old connections: origins
by nefertiris
Summary: vanessa mccall used to live in beacon hills during her teen years, close to her cousin scott. her only close friend was derek hale, and she enjoyed that friendship until one day everything changed. the girl's life was turned upside down when an alpha bit her and forced unfortunate events to crawl into her life. then she left. and now she's back.
1. prologue

_Don't go to the woods alone._

It was dark and gloomy that night, making it impossible for Vanessa to see clearly in the woods. She searched as well as she could with her eyes for the item that she had dropped the other day, but it was impossible. besides, the woods scared her at night and the fact that she was just a thirteen year old little child who could barely defend herself in case something would happen.

Letting out a shaky breath, she hugged herself to keep her warm and walked towards an area she recognized much. The trees all looked pretty much the same and the sky was dark, making it even harder for her to see between the trees.

 _If you need to go to the woods late, always bring someone._

Vanessa knew she needed to listen to her dad more often because he was usually right; a very wise man. Though she didn't think she'd be there very long since she was certain she knew exactly where her stupid cap was. She was wrong.

 _And for the love of God, bring something to defend yourself with._

That, she had failed as well. Except for the fighting skills her dad had helped her practice up. After a brief moment, Vanessa could relax as she lay her eyes on the colorful cap that was placed by a tree from earlier that day when she had dropped it.

"Finally." She muttered as she bent down a little to grab it. When her back was straight again, she almost stopped breathing. In the moonlight that night, her dark eyes landed on a figure standing not far from her. It was a male one, young and skinny, but that was all she could see.

A moment of contemplation passed; she could either simply ask him who he was or run away and hope that he'd stay where he was. She liked neither. The boy stood still as well, trying to see as much as he could of her. Then she turned around and ran.

"Wait, stop!" He called after her, but Vanessa was sprinting away from there and towards home. She snuck back in through her window, tossed the cap on her desk and sat down on her bed, at last being able to breathe like a normal person. Whoever that was, she hoped she'd never have to see him again and she hoped he didn't get a thorough look on her.


	2. when it all began

_the past._

Freshman year. The thought made Vanessa want to cringe. Starting a new year, let alone in a new school, was not something she appreciated. Not that she was the sort of person who had a hard time adapting to new environments, but because it was just boring in a way. Combing her hair, she slowly looked to the side as she heard her dad's, Jacques (though people call him Jake), footsteps and smiled.

"You ready?" He asked her, leaning himself against her doorframe with his arms crossed together. "Do you want a ride or are you walking?"

"I'll walk, it's really close. But thanks." Vanessa replied, putting the comb away. "When does your shift start?"

"In an hour. I made you breakfast, by the way. I wasn't sure what you wanted to drink though, so I made tea and there's also orange juice. Oh, and–"

"Dad." She chuckled while shaking her head. "Stop rambling. You'd think you're even more nervous than I am."

"Maybe. I am your dad, you know, it's my job to be worried about you." He pointed out, being the reason to why she smirked. Vanessa glanced down while she remembered all the times he had warned her about the woods and to not trust everyone because people could really be cruel. In that moment, she wished she had listened to him a little bit more.

"I'm fine, dad. It's just school and this town is... Weird but cool." She assured him with a sloppy shrug.

"Weird indeed." Jacques murmured more to himself, causing her to suspiciously frown at him. "Alright, I'll stop worrying then."

Vanessa nudged his side with hers as she made her way to the kitchen, where her dad had put breakfast on the table. They sat down opposite to each other and started eating in silence, until a conversation was initiated. He asked her about who she knew in her new high school, considering a lot of her old friends had moved away about a year ago.

"I wish I knew a few people, but I don't." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Except for one person though, but..." She then trailed off, avoiding her dad's gaze. He slowed his chewing down and looked at her for a moment before sighing heavily.

"He goes there too?" Jacques finally asked, the distaste absolutely clear in his voice.

"Dad." Vanessa said almost sternly, not wanting to have a conversation like this again. "I don't understand what you have against him anyw–"

"It's not just him. It's the whole damn fanily." He cut her off, making her feel so small that she sunk down in her seat. Noticing this, he instantly regretted his tone and apologized. "I don't know, sweetie, they're just..."

"Strange." She filled in for him quietly. Lowering his head, he hummed an agreement and finished his drink. Vanessa tried to read his expression but gave up after a moment and moved towards the hallway instead. "I'll see you after school."

"I'm sorry, okay." He tried again, but she merely shook her head to herself and kept dressing on her shoes and jacket.

"I'm not the one you're judging." She retorted, looked at him shortly and left the house.

Vanessa hated walking away in the middle of a discussion or argument, but she really had to go or she'd be late for her first day. Pulling her fingers through her hair, she sped her pace up and was soon surrounded by other students. Her eyes searched for the reception as she wandered through the hallway and soon she found what she was looking for. The freshman gathered all her essentials, such as her schedule for the day, and then attended her first class.

It went on smoothly and quickly, which she appreciated. Most of the students knew each other from before and had their groups. The thing about Vanessa wasn't that she was an outcast or generally weird; she did have friends and she could have many more if she wanted. But there was just something about her. Her dad used to tell her that she was special and therefore hard to connect with at first. She could understand that now. Besides, if things were hard back then, getting friends now was nearly impossible.

"Hey there, beautiful." A voice said from behind her shoulder. She smirked to herself and easily shook her head.

"It's the first day and you're already flirting with the girls? Wow." She snorted, tucking some hair behind her ear.

"No, not with the girls. With the girl." He corrected her, and it was only then she recognized the voice.

Vanessa turned around and grinned once her eyes landed on Derek Hale's face. He returned the wide smile before wrapping his arms around her body and hugging her tightly, enjoying the scent of her perfume. She pulled back while simultaneously ruffling his hair and laughed a little.

"I wasn't sure you'd even show up. You don't seem like the guy who'd willingly go to school."

"Well, it is the first day. I can at least try one day." Derek joked. She rolled her eyes and folded her arms together. If there was one person who could pull off a perfect, prominant eye roll, it was her. She always looked like she meant them with her heart and soul.

The two attended their next classes, some together, some separate. It wasn't a particularly long day so when it ended, they decided to go somewhere and simply talk. While they exited the school area, Vanessa felt uneasy and glanced behind her shoulder, noticing another boy their age stare at them as they walked. She didn't say anything to Derek though, thinking it was nothing.

As usual, they ended up in the woods. It felt safe, ironically, and no one was there to disturb them. Vanessa leaned herself against a tree with crossed arms and Derek stood closely in front of her with his hands down his pockets. The two hadn't seen each other in months.

"So what's up?" She broke the silence, examining his face. He was really hot, and he had a charming feature that could sometimes make her forget what she was thinking before.

"The sk–"

"I'll kill you if you finish that sentence." She quickly prevented him from saying it. Derek chuckled with his head hanging low.

"I'm pretty good. You?" He answered, eyeing her.

Vanessa didn't know what to answer right away. A lot had happened since the last time they met, which was the fourth time they had ever met in total. Well, fifth if you count the time when they unofficially met in the woods years ago. Although Derek didn't know that was her, but Vanessa had figured it out after hearing Derek call for her another time the same way.

"I'm... Busy." She simply stated after staring at his feet for a moment.

"Busy? You're fourteen." He remarked carefully with raised eyebrows.

"Long story." She waved it off, but knew it was in vain.

"We've got time, Nessa." He deadpanned, helping her realize he was right and that he wouldn't exactly drop it. They were there to catch up and hang out.

"Okay. First of all, my parents split a few months ago. But it wasn't a dramatic, heart breaking split or anything. They just... Didn't love each other in the same way, and my mom wanted more than this. They're still friends and we have dinner sometimes all three of us but it's been weird." She explained quickly with a blank expression.

"That's a shame. I liked your mom." He pouted a bit and sent her a sympathetic look.

"Because my dad thinks you're weird." She chuckled, her voice fading slowly in the silent forest. She could partly understand her dad's perception and opinion on him though, considering the Hale family was strange and she had never met them.

"But your parents are on good terms?" He asked to be sure, and she nodded truthfully in response. "At least that's good."

"It's comfortable."

The two gazed at each other for a while. There was alaways a silence between them at some point when they met because their friendsship was so weird — if it even was a complete friendship. It was hard to put words on it. They had officially met when they were thirteen and it was during one of Beacon Hill's lacrosse games. Vanessa was there to watch an older friend and Derek was simply there. He had dropped a comment to her because she was standing so close and then they talked from then on. That was the only time they talked for a really long time: all the other times, they spoke for a few minutes and then had to part ways. That's why she barely knew anything about him, which was frustrating and led her to believe it wasn't a proper friendship they shared.

"Can I try something without you freaking out?" Derek asked out of the blue, making her frown questiongly at him. At first, he opened his mouth to further explain but ended up closing it, walking closer towards her and grab her face before he kissed her.

Vanessa raised her eyebrows out of utter surprise and felt herself slightly pushed against the tree. As a few seconds passed, her eyes closed and entire body relaxed while she kissed him back and held onto his waist. Derek caressed her cheeks with his thumbs to add more feeling and slowly pulled back. Their confused eyes met, but she couldn't suppress the grin that grew on her face.

"Where did that come from?"

"I don't know." He admitted through a short laughter. "I've just been wanting to do that for a while now."

"Well..." She murmured, nearly whispered, and carefully removed her hands. Then all the feelings hit her like a train: mostly confusion, then some sort of happiness, and then... Something odd and wrong. "I have to go."

"Seriously?" Derek deadpanned. Vanessa eyed him subtly before deciding to simply go. He stayed puzzled, watching her walk away and out of the woods without explaining.

Vanessa blinked a few times to get rid of the overwhelming feeling as she hurried away. She didn't head home directly because she wanted to make a stop first. She neared the familiar neighborhood and saw the cosy house. With a smile, she knocked on the door and watched as Melissa Mccall answered the door with messy hair and a tired expression on her face. It lit up a little bit at the sight of Vanessa though.

"Bad time?" Vanessa asked as she entered the house.

"Oh no, just a long day at work. How was school? First day, right?" Melissa waved it off and folded her arms together.

"Nothing special about it." Vanessa answered. Soon she heard the tiny footsteps and grinned only in a way she did near family. "Now where's my baby cousin?"

"Vanessa!" Scott jogged over to her. She crouched down and embraced him in a warm hug once he reached her.

"Hi, Scotty. What's up?"

"I'm not a baby anymore." Scott pouted, ignoring her question.

"Oh honey, you're like what, seven? You're a baby." She laughed, harmlessly pinching his adorable cheeks.

"Says the little fourteen year old." Rafael, Scott's dad and her uncle, teased as he came down the stairs.

"Hey, I'm no kid. I just started High School." She joked back, putting a hand against her chest to feign hurt.

"If it helps you sleep at night." Rafael smiled. Scott got bored quickly and dragged Vanessa with him to his room instead.

"Look, mom bought me a new coloring book!" He exclaimed proudly and excited, displaying it for her.

"Have you started coloring without me?" She asked with narrowed eyes, getting the coloring pencils for them. When Scott didn't reply, she turned around and saw him making a guilty face. "Scotty."

"I couldn't help it, it was so fun with a new book. Look, it's the Ninja Turtles." He excused the fact that he had started a new book without her. Containing a smile, she lay down on her stomach on the floor as they always did and put the pencils and book between them. Scott grabbed a green one and began coloring instantly. "Tell me a story, please."

"What kind of story?" She asked with her eyes glancing up at him.

"Anything. Yours are always so good." He shrugged carelessly. Vanessa smiled at the floor and thought for a moment. Ever since Scott was born, the girl had told him stories of everything. However, she always made them a little personal to make them more realistic, and sometimes she put her life into metaphors.

"Alright. A scary or a happy one?"

"Both." He cheekily smiled and finished coloring his page of Raphael.

"I'll start with the happy one then." She decided and pushed some hair behind her shoulder. "Once upon a time, there was a girl. No, a princess even. She was very young and had lived a pretty decend life so far."

"What's her name?" He butted in, always wanting to know their names. Sometimes Vanessa was afraid that he actually wrote them down and saved their names.

"Vanya." She answered slowly. "Princess Vanya had always had her routine due to being a little strange sometimes. She was mostly in her castle, with the people she knew well, and did what she loved to do; architecting."

"What's arch– archi–"

"Designing and making buildings and such. An architecht is a person who designed your house so that builders could later on make it real." She explained softly, and he nodded once he understood. "That's what this princess loved to do. She devoted most of her life to it, but one day she suddenly grew and was thought of as an adult. Well, soon to be an adult. So Vanyas father decided to move her and educate her somewhere else."

"But isn't the castle her home?" Scott asked with a frown.

"She still lived in the castle and slept there, but she had to educate herself somewhere else. And at this school, she met someone."

"A prince, right?" Scott assumed, but for the first time she shook her head and smiled at him.

"No, not a prince this time. Almost the opposite actually. She met this... Stranger who was simply no one. It didn't take long for the two to connect and form a bond. One day, this person did something so out of character that it took the princess fully by surprise."

"What'd he do?" He asked. By now he was so intrigued he had forgotten about the coloring book overall and dropped his pencil.

"He kissed her." She whispered as she leaned forward a bit.

"Ew." Scott grimaced out of disgust and then stuck his tongue out. She giggled and then thought of how to make him even more disgusted.

"Yeah, all over her face. Just like this." She quickly took a hold of him and attacked his face with kisses, causing him to make sounds of disgust and try to worm his way out of her grip. Then they both just laughed and he stayed leaning against her arm with a smile on his face.

In their silence, the vocal war that was going on downstairs was heard. Vanessa pursed her lips when she hard Melissa yell out of frustration and Rafael yell out of, what she assumed, alcohol and anger. Covering Scott's ears, she sighed and looked away to avoid seeing his sad eyes.

"They've been yelling for days." Scott finally spoke up, removing her hands. "Why?"

"I don't know, sweetie." She mumbled and kissed the top of his head. "Do they yell a lot when you're near?"

"Mhm." Scott suddenly weeped for a short moment, making it feel like Vanessas heart was being squeezed to pieces. She hated seeing him like this and she hated how his parents couldn't be more mature and avoid fighting while he was there.

"Stay here, okay? I'll be right back."

Scott nodded kindly and Vanessa exited his room, closing the door behind her. She then joined the two grown ups in the kitchen and crossed her arms together. Melissa was the first to notice her and feel shame because she understood Scott had heard them. Vanessa raised her eyebrows, waiting for an explaination as to why they were being so stupid.

"Did he hear a lot?" Melissa asked quietly.

"He heard enough, Mel." Vanessa snapped. "I can't believe you two."

"This is none of your business, Vanessa." Rafe stated, only infuriating her even more. Melissa glared at him as she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.

"No, it's not. Yet I am always here when you two cross the line, and I'm always here to shut you two up, and I'm always here to comfort your son after you two made him feel sad. So if you're gonna keep fighting over his alcohol problems and his behaviour, then you take it somewhere else. Scott deserves better than growing up in this toxic house." Vanessa said with a fierce voice. She didn't have the energy to even listen to their lame excuses, so she walked back to Scott's room and sent him a half-hearted smile. He had tucked himself in his bed, not that he was going to sleep just yet but because it felt safer, and evidently pressed back tears. "Hey."

"Are they done?" He asked timidly. She sat down on the edge of the bed and caressed his arm.

"Yeah, they're done." She whispered and noticed his shoulders slightly relaxing. "Do you still want to hear that other story?"

"Please." He exaggarated it on purpose, making her laugh through her nose.

"Alright. Once upon a time, there was a girl wandering the woods, who was around thirteen years old. Not the Red Riding Hood though, someone else. This girl loved to collect things, such as action figures. One time when she passed the woods when her dad was driving, she noticed something nearby on the ground. So on the misty night, the brave girl walked her way to the woods where she had seen that item."

"Did she find it?" Scott butted in. He usually did that, even when he knew she would answer the question in her story herself.

"She did. It lay there, shining in the moonlight, without an owner. Carefully, she seized the item with her small hands and planned on going back home. However, fate had different plans for the girl. On her way home, she heard noises from behind her, stirring the worry within. That's when it all began."

"When what began?"

"Her new life. The thing that made all those noises was a werewolf. A big, black one who chased the girl through the woods. She was so scared and her heart was pumping so fast, but she ran and ran and ran until she could barely breathe. Then she accidentally slowed her pace down and the wolf caught up with her, aiming for her. Don't worry, the girl made it out of the woods safely. But the wolf had managed to graze her side with his nasty teeth, creating a hideous mark on her side. Then it was gone."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"What happened to the girl?" He asked and she pushed some of his hair away from his face.

"She's fine now, but that bite changed her life forever."

"How?" He whined, not satisfied with the story that wasn't complete. She snorted and checked the time on her phone.

"I have to go home, but maybe I'll tell you the rest some other day." She promised, leaning down to place a quick kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Scotty."

"Love you too, Vee." Scott mumbled tiredly. Vanessa waved at him as she left the room and then left the house while caressing her own waist, where there used to be a hideous mark.

* * *

 **hi guys! hope you'll like this first chapter, i'm so excited to share this story with all of you! make sure to check my tumblr for more vanessa stuff under the 'vanessa mccall' tag on my tumblr (which is 'killianruby')! xx**


	3. new friends

Vanessa had made friends. Partly because she in a way needed to have friends in high school, and partly because Derek had found himself a gang of basketball playing guys. At least they didn't think he was strange. While she was putting her books and such in her locker, Derek snuck up behind her and lightly scared her.

"How mature of you." She snorted and turned around to face him. He had a cheesy, charming smile on his face.

"Can we talk?" He asked and examined her beautiful face.

"About?"

"What do you think?" He sighed and cocked his head sideways. "About the kiss. And you running away. What was that?"

"I..." She started, trying to come up with an excuse. "I'm sorry about that. I guess I freaked out. You kissed me out of nowhere."

"I meant it." He stated, licking his bottom lip inside his mouth. "It's weird and new, but... I liked it."

"So did I."

And then silence. They went from barely having a proper friendship to kissing in the woods. Vanessa gazed at him for a while before she sighed and looked to the side. Derek didn't know what to do either. This was Vanessa, not some random, hot girl at the school. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, Vanessa couldn't decide, Derek's friends approached them with a basketball.

"Come on, we've got practice." One of them — Daniel — said as he tossed Derek the ball.

"Right, and I'm trying out for a spot in the cheer team, so..." Vanessa played it cool, shrugging a little. Derek didn't really want to leave, but staying would only make it more awkward. So he sent her a genuine, loving smile, bounced the ball against her forehead and walked away with wiggling eyebrows at her. "Real mature, Hale!"

"Always am!" He called back before disappearing completely. She shook her head stupidly and decided to attend the cheer team audition earlier than she needed. She enjoyed watching cheerleaders rock the stage and she'd love to be one. Thankfully, her mom introduced the art of dancing to her at a young age so her passion for that was a help along the way.

The trials didn't take too long and soon she was out of the gym local and on her way back home. Derek wasn't anywhere in sight, so she walked without seeing him. Suddenly, a strange but familiar feeling took over her; the feeling of being watched. looking behind her shoulder, she could barely see a figure standing still and watching. Or maybe she was just paranoid. Either way, her pace quickened and she found herself being home faster than expected.

"Vanessa?" Her dad called to see if it was her coming home.

"What's for dinner?" She called back with a smirk, knowing very well how much he hated that — asking for something she took for granted when he greeted her.

"Whatever you can afford." Jacques muttered back, reading from a newspaper while he approached her. "How was school? Is it good so far? Gotten any friends?"

"It's no different from my last school, it is good so far and yes actually, I have. Other than Derek." She answered his questions as she opened the fridge and surveyed the content of it.

"I really don't like that guy, I don't even know why." He sighed with a look of guilt. Derek had never done anything bad to him, yet he disliked the kid.

"He's nice, dad. And by the way, I tried out for the cheerleading team today." She changed the subject with excitement, taking out the required ingredients for cooking a chicken sallad.

"That's great! What'd they say?" He smiled brightly, folding his arms together against the counter.

Their kitchen wasn't the biggest, but it was enough and smooth. They had their fridge, freezer, oven, counters and such against the wall and the dinner table in the same room. Between the dinner table and kitchen counter stood a rectangular table/counter-ish furniture with boxes built in it. They mostly used it as an extra place to put things on and cook on if necessary. Right now it worked as a support for Jacques upper body.

"Not much. They'd get back to me either tomorrow or after the weekend." She said, pulling her hair up in a ponytail. She then put a cutting board on the counter and grabbed a knife.

"I'm positive you'll get a spot." He assured her, growing a smile on her face. "Need any help?"

"Thanks and no thanks. It's just chicken sallad, I'll be done soon." She denied his help offer, warming up the stove so that she could fry the chicken.

"We might get company, so could you make food for four people?" He made an awkward face and then gave her the thumbs up. With a frown, she paused her vegetables-cutting and looked up at him.

"Do we even know two people?"

"We know Scott and Stiles."

"Dad, I can't take care of them tonight." She shook her head nervously.

"Why not? You love them."

Vanessa bit her bottom lip as she stared out the window. She couldn't take care of the boys due to her own personal problems, none that her dad knew of. She'd tell him someday, hopefully, but not now.

"I'm on my period and I'm really starting to feel cranky." She finally lied. He raised his eyebrows and hummed once.

"Okay, understandable. Could they at least be here for a while and eat?"

"Yeah, of course." She nodded and then returned to cooking.

Jacques left the kitchen and Vanessa began to feel her skin tickle. Even after a year, more or less, she still couldn't control it and fight the urges that the full moon caused her to feel. She hated them. This wasn't the first time a full moon screwed her schedule up, but she had never had to decline babysitting the boys.

The two boys arrived shortly after, just in time to eat with Vanessa and her dad. Stiles was a hard kid to babysit considering he was always up to something and he never sat still. Most of the times. However, he was for some reason always so calm with Vanessa. He never pranked her or annoyed her; he simply played the games she offered to play with them and enjoyed her company.

The four sat down and ate, part of the time in silence. Vanessa couldn't completely relax, knowing that anytime soon the moon would kick her werewolf anger on. The last thing she wanted was to be near her two favorite kids in the world. Scott played with his food sometimes, Stiles nearly devoured his and Jacques enjoyed it. He was so glad that Vanessa had picked up some cooking skills.

"Vanessa, can you tell Stiles that story you told me?" Scott suddenly asked, making her smile weakly at them. Stiles nodded eagerly as he drank his soda.

"Always." She chuckled while she too nodded, but not as furiously.

So that's what she did after dinner. Vanessa sat down on the couch with the boys on both her sides and began telling them the same story she had told Scott before she left, about the girl and the wolf. Stiles was intrigued to say at least, Scott took in more details this time and even Jacques listened to the story with a smile.

"And what happened then?" Scott whined since he didn't get an answer to that the last time.

"Well... The girl found a way to cope with the hideous mark and accepted the change in her life. Though she was very young, she was clever and mature for her age. She lived a long and happy life. The end." Vanessa said softly, ruffling Scott's hair to annoy him.

"That was unique." Jacques commented, his eyebrows slightly raised.

"I'm a proffesional." She jokingly winked at him. "Anyway, do you boys want to play cards before you have to leave?"

"Yes!" Stiles exclaimed happily, straightening his back a little. Scott rolled his eyes with a smile before he got up and collected the deck of cards.

About half an hour into playing cards, her skin started to itch. Vanessa looked out the window and only then realized how dark it had gotten and how her heart was beating faster. She needed to get out of there as fast as possible. Jacques took notice of the change in his daughters mood, so he frowned at her and tried to read it. She put her cards down and checked the time on her phone.

"Oh, look at that, it's bedtime for you two." She exclaimed with a light voice, lighter than it normally was.

"It's not even that late." Stiles pouted.

"Aw." Vanessa cooed and harmlessly pinched his cheek. "I have to go anyway, but it was fun having you here."

"Alright boys, I'll take you home." Jacques smiled. Scott lived almost ridiculously close to them, and Stiles was only a few minutes away.

Once her dad had left the house with them, Vanessa pulled her hands through her hair and ran out. She only had one place where she knew she could bear with the full moon, and that was a basement in the middle of the woods that her Alpha had shown her during her first full moon. She absolutely hated that place due to it being small, damp, thick-aired and dark, but she went there anyway, nearly crashing her body against Kaleb's.

"About time." Kaleb muttered and immediately started cuffing her hands to the chains. He was a man, maybe around twenty five or so, with dark hair and soft, somewhat sharp features. "It's not enough that you still can't control yourself, but you have to worry me and show up late? The moon's already up and the last thing I need is for you to wreak havoc."

Letting out a quiet whimper, Vanessa locked her eyes on her chained hands and then closed them as she felt more aggravated, partly because of the moon and partly because of her asshole of an Alpha. She kept reminding herself that this was vocal and mental abuse, but what could she do? He already hated her enough.

"Can you leave now." She mumbled, feeling her sharp fangs slowly grow and her claws expand by the second.

"Why? You think that'll make it easier? That I leave?" He scoffed, crouching down slightly since she had placed herself on the floor. "Then you're wrong. The only way this will go easier is if you learn to control it! For God's sake, it's been a year and you're still whimpering down here!"

Kaleb always believed that anger would somehow help her control it. He was so wrong. If anything, it only made her allow the moon's anger and fury to completely take over her body and mind. At some point, Vanessa internally relaxed, knowing that sooner or later she'd go insane anyway. Kaleb cursed under his breath and took a step back, avoiding her slashings and growling. Her normally dark eyes glowed a golden shade in the dark. The chains hurt her wrists, but not hard enough to make her stop pulling them and trying to release herself.

The stuck-up Alpha paced around in the room, clearly wishing he was somewhere else right now, as he fiddled with his fingernails and occasionally glanced at her. Vanessa knew how much he hated her and how much he regretted ever changing her; mostly because of the contrast between her and the rest of the pack. She was only fourteen, innocent and definitely not a killer, while the rest of them were older, done with their lives and thirsty for power. And they had learned how to control their shifting and the full moon. She hadn't.

As Vanessa thought about how Kaleb had changed her mind and turned her into something so hideous, she felt more power come to her muscles. Charging for one hard pull, she ripped the chains away from the wall and almost made Kaleb shit his pants. With a smirk on her face, she darted towards him and chased him in the woods. Her werewolf roar wasn't as deep and animalistic as the others; it had, in the back of it, some hint of her female voice, so there was something similar to a female scream mixed with the roar.

She happily caught up with him and pinned him against the ground before using her claws to slash him everywhere, getting all her anger out. She never asked to be a werewolf. He never truly wanted to turn a teenage girl in the first place — she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. He never even bothered to care about her, but he was stuck with her. Suddenly, Vanessa was tossed aside and then pinned to a tree herself, but not by Kaleb.

"Let me go!" She demanded while trying to get loose, but whoever was holding her was strong.

"Go, I got her!"

"You sure? She's stronger than she looks."

"Obviously, judging by how much you're bleeding right now."

Kaleb didn't need to be told twice. He ran away as if she wasn't his beta, and the boy holding her finally faced her. Vanessa subconsciously calmed down as she recognized him. It was that strange guy who had been watching her and Derek, or at least she assumed he was watching them. He flashed her his own werewolf eyes and kept holding onto her arms.

"Let. Me. Go." She repeated, her head hanging lower.

"Can't do that." He shook his head with a ridiculous smirk plastered on his face. "I'm Peter, by the way. You?"

"Vanessa." For some reason, she didn't care whether this guy knew her name or not.

"Hi." Peter greeted, though he only got a growl from her as response. She still wasn't fully calm yet and he could sense that. "Don't you have an anchor to help you control yourself?"

"A what?"

"An anchor." He said, but judging by her face she didn't even know an anchor could help. "Alright, I'll help you with that. Think of someone or something that makes you smile. Someone who can make the worst day seem a little bit better. Someone you can count on and talk to freely. Just someone who you feel close to, doesn't matter who or what sort of person it is. Does that work?"

Vanessa closed her eyes and thought about it. Due to her parents recent split-up, she couldn't use them as anchor. Not that they had caused a traumatizing experience for her or that they were mean in any way, but she hadn't really talked to any of them in a while since they had to think about themselves for a while. Scott was too young and too distant. That only left Derek to fill that anchor-role. She tried to remember every conversation they've had, every time they say in serene silence and watched Beacon Hills from the forest, every time he made her smile and every time he made her question what life was really about.

Peter slowly let go off her as her breathing calmed down and her wolf features weren't visible anymore. Vanessa leaned her head back against the tree, eyes on the moon and grinned widely. It helped. She didn't feel the burning sensation, she felt in control of her body, both physically and mentally and she didn't feel like ripping someone apart.

"Thanks." She thanked him with a genuine smile. "Does that work every time?"

"Mostly. I mean, it does work but you'll sometimes have to fight the moon and its urges. But you won't go crazy as long as you have your anchor." He answered and tucked some hair that had fallen in front of her face away. She flinched since she wasn't used to physical contact and then stupidly smiled. "Sorry."

"No, it's alright. You're a real creep, I hope you know that." She smirked, watching him frown in confusion.

"I don't...? What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. You're the guy who's watched me from afar sometimes. Or, I'm assuming you're watching. And now you just happened to show up at the spot that I was in? Dude."

"Okay, I'll admit, I've been curious about you." Peter confessed, holding up his hands as if in defense. "And I want to ask if you'd like to do something someday."

"Like a what, a date?" She asked and studied his face. He was so evidently confident and sure of his charm that it almost worked on her. Almost.

"If you want it to be a date. Otherwise it's just us hanging out. Anyway, there's this diner in town that I love and we could go there." He shrugged, trying to come off as casual.

"Sure, why not." She accepted. After all, he did help her control herself tonight and he was charming enough for her to just hang out. Oh, if she had known who he actually was.

* * *

 **Hi guys! So here's the second chapter with Vanessa losing control and dum dum dum, meeting Peter! Hope you like it so far, reviews are always hugely appreciated and if you want to see more of Vanessa, you can check her on my tumblr! It's: /rubyslucas! Have a nice day ^^**


	4. apologizing

Beacon Hills wasn't the prettiest, most fancy city, but it sure looked beautiful from the forest hill where you could stand and see the entire town. Vanessa loved seeing it from that point of view with all the lights and the distant sounds.

"Hey." A soft voice greeted her. Derek placed himself beside her and warmly smiled. She returned it and folded her arms together.

"Finally." Vanessa commented his lateness, though he wasn't that late.

"I was busy." He mumbled. She didn't ask with what since he gave her a vibe that wasn't welcoming for questions. "It's been a while. I mean, I barely see you at school."

"And I barely see you." She replied with a sloppy shrug. With a sigh, he turned to look at her instead of Beacon Hills and leaned his head to the side a bit.

"What's this?"

"What's what?"

"This." He repeated as he waved his hand back and forth between them. "This coldness. It's so tense and I don't like it."

"How am I supposed to know?" She scoffed so sternly that he winced out of surprise and slight fear. "And I don't even know what you mean. I don't feel any tension."

"That's a lie. You moved your foot." He observed strangely, making her frown as a question mark. "You always move your foot when you lie."

"I hate you sometimes." She muttered and looked away for a moment. "I just feel like going to the same school isn't that good for us. We were supposed to be the mysterious friends who only meet now and then. Besides, we made ourselves other friends too."

"How about we make a deal? That like, every day we eat lunch together. And then we could meet here once a week or something." He suggested. For a second, she was ready to accept the deal and shake his hand with a smile.

"So what, we're just gonna ignore the kiss completely? Like it never happened?" She asked with a sassy shrug, turning herself to look at him. "You kissed me, remember? If there's something you want to tell me, do it."

"Nessa, I... I don't know what to say." He said quietly, afraid that she'd punch him for his vagueness.

"Of course you don't." Vanessa started to walk away, arms folded when Derek called her and seized her wrist carefully. He had no idea what to say, but the last thing he wanted was for her to walk away from him in a bad mood. "Seriously, do you have anything to say to me?" She repeated, jerking her arm away from his grasp.

"I'm not good at this, okay! What the hell am I supposed to say?" He exclaimed, holding the fingers of his hands against his chest.

"You don't have to be good at it, Derek. You just have to be honest, which you're clearly not." She stated before leaving.

Derek sighed as he watched her figure disappear out of his sight. Vanessa didn't know what she felt exactly. The main reason why she was mad at him wasn't that he didn't have the guts to tell her that he didn't like her in that way, but that he didn't have the guts to tell her anything. She also felt, and knew him too well to notice, that he was hiding something from her.

A few days later, she was practicing her fighting skills with her dad on their backyard. He never questioned why she wanted to improve her fighting all of sudden because he wanted to teach her how to defend herself. It went on rather smoothly, though she had to do her best not to accidentally hit him with some extra werewolf strength.

"Don't forget to put some focus on your stance, it's important. It's like a base for how you'll punch and how steady those punches are." Jacques pointed out as he aimed for her head and watched her dodge it.

"Did you learn how to fight before or during joining the army?" She asked curiously.

"Your uncle and I took lessons together before. But he wanted to join the FBI and I joined the army." Jacques answered. Vanessa smiled before they continued to practice.

Derek carefully walked to the unknown territory. He noticed from afar that Vanessa and her dad — he assumed — were training something. From his point of view, she was terrifying as she punched and punched her dad's palms, her entire body pushing those punches forward. If there was someone he was genuinely scared of, it was her.

"I really hope you're not imagining my face." He dared to comment.

Vanessa abruptly stopped her movements once she heard that it was Derek Hale of all people. Jacques frowned and turned to study the young boy standing just a few metres away from them. She tried not to show how impressed she was that he had the courage to actually go to her house and interfere like this.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, though Jacques wasn't satisfied with that.

"Who are you?"

"Dad, this is Derek. Hale." She introduced him quietly, folding her arms together against her chest. Derek awkwardly waved at the man. She was so sure he'd drop a rude comment or simply glare at Derek and leave, but he didn't. Instead, he suprised them both.

"Nice to finally meet you, Derek." Jacques actually smiled as he offered his hand for Derek to shake, which the young boy did instantly and politely.

"Nice to meet you too. Sorry I've never introduced myself, but–"

"Don't worry about it." He waved him off, making Vanessa pull a shocked, confused, judging face while she watched the two interract and smile at each other. She was almost certain her dad had lost his mind completely. "Do you want to come in?"

"Oh, I was just gonna talk to Nessa, but sure." Derek shrugged, trying to play it as cool as possible. Vanessa rolled her eyes and simultaneously turned her head to the side, suppressing a laughter. This was too weird to be real.

"Well, you're welcome inside. I'll let you two talk." Jacques offered them another smile before he entered the house and left them alone. Vanessa looked at Derek and raised her eyebrows.

"I came over to apologize." He admitted, taking a few steps closer to her. "I know I should've answered you and I know I'm bad at... Emotions, so I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. I mean, we are who we are and both of us are bad at communicating when it comes to deep stuff. I just want us to be what we've been for the past year and a half. It was easier like that."

Vanessa had been saying that to herself too, trying to push down these silly feelings by remembering how good and rare friends they are. Having Derek confirming that he wanted the same might help her in the process. Instead of instantly answering, he looked down at his shoes with a thoughtful mind.

"Yeah, that sounds good. Sorry for making things so complicated."

Part of her felt satisfied with that answer, but the other part didn't. She was so conflicted it started to really frustrate her. Instead of vocally saying something back, she simply nodded slowly and pursed her averagely plump lips. They stood silently for a while until Vanessa realized her dad had actually invited Derek inside.

"Do you wanna come inside? It'll be weird, but you get to see my room." She asked as she motioned behind her shoulder with her thumb. He cracked an adorable smile, looked down and then nodded happily.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

Vanessa used the backdoor that led to the kitchen with Derek following closely behind her. Now that he thought about it, he realized he hadn't been much to other people's houses. It was so modern compared to the Hale house, though it had some cosy traditional drag to it. He loved it already, plus their house smelled like faint vanilla — not so much that it suffocates you and smells disgusting, but just enough.

"There's some snacks in the cabinets and so, unless you're hungry?" Jacques looked away from his phone as he directed his question to Derek. The young boy thought about it for a moment before he kindly declined.

"Seriously dad, are you drunk or something?" Vanessa questioned in a whisper with a frown. As she and Derek passed Jacques to go to her room, her dad pinched her side jokingly for the comment. "What? Can you blame me?"

"Just go." Jacques sighed with a hopeless smile.

"Your dad scares me but he seems cool." Derek whispered, causing her body to shiver a little. Vanessa snorted, opened the door to her room and entered. She sat down on the edge of her bed out of habit and watched as he surveyed her room with curious eyes.

It really wasn't that extraordinary. Her walls were white and decorated with personal details, such as small photos, posters, creative collections she had and such, all placed so well done that the room still looked fancy. She didn't have many unnecessary furniture either; a bed, desk, closet, mirror and a small table by the bed.

"Done yet?" She asked with a smirk once a time had passed. He turned his head toward her and laughed nerverously before joining her side.

"Is that your dad on the picture?" He asked as he pointed to the framed picture on her desk. On the frame hung a necklace as well.

"Yeah. He used to be in the army, then he met my mom. He was going to quit but he had to join the battlefield for one last moment. Took him a few months, but he came home and they started a life together. He always talked about his time there and raised me the way they trained him. Not as brutally of course, but still." She answered, a hint of pride in her face.

"Wow." Derek said quietly. "I like that you're room isn't full of things."

"I like to keep it simple and organized. I'm a soft version of Monica Geller."

"Who?" He asked with a confused expression. She deadpanned him, staring at him until she was sure he honestly didn't know.

"Monica from Friends? You haven't seen that show?" He shook his head like a lost little puppy. "Everyone's seen that show. Weird."

"I don't watch much TV." He shrugged.

"Figured." She smiled and mildly scratched her upper arm. She did that often, he had noticed. "Maybe we should start watching a TV show together, now that you can freely walk into my house."

"We should." He agreed. Derek had felt a bit out of place until now. Finally he felt comfortable enough to lean back and prop himself up by using his elbows, looking at her with that charming, sometimes cocky, smile of his. It made Vanessa look away and bite her lip.

"I have a list with my favorite tv shows so far somewhere. I'll find it later and we could check it out. Or we could watch something I haven't seen." She rambled, on her way to get up and get that list when he seized her wrist and laughed.

"Are you always this chatty?" He chuckled, causing her to close her mouth and her eyes wander hastily. "Not that I mind." He then quickly added once he realized that maybe that had hurt her. And he didn't mind either.

"I just get excited about things I like, you know. Which in a way is bad because I bore people and I'm really bad at faking enthusiasm when it comes to things I don't like." She explained with a low voice.

"You don't bore me." He shrugged shamelessly, making her smile a little.

"Thank the gods." She laughed.

"Gods?" He repeated, emphasizing the last letter.

"Oh yeah, I love to believe in a lot. You know, if there truly are higher forces, why can't there be more than just one? And why can't different ones get along?" She philosophed, making him frown in confusion. "Who says the ancient Greek gods and the Hindu gods don't exist at the same time? It's crazy, I know, but if I'm going to believe in religion, it'll be all of them. Though I like the Greek mythology more."

"I am truly impressed by everything that's going on in your brain. Truly." He stated slowly, nodding just as slowly and gazing at her intensely.

Vanessa didn't physically blush, but it felt like it. Smiling, she looked down and tried to think of something that would change the subject. Derek slowly grew a grin as he watched her avoid eye contact.

"Stop staring."

"I'm not staring, I'm gazing."

"That's just a fancy word for staring." She scoffed while nudging his side, earning a laughter from him.

"You know, you don't have to excuse your bad qualities. No one's perfect, Nessa." He pointed out, making her look at him with an insecure expression. It was funny, because to the outside world and his friends, she seemed like the most confident person ever. They always used to make a comment about that after she and Derek had talked at school, about how hot she is and cool and funny. Seeing her look so self-conscious was weird, but he also understood it. Vanessa was confident and she loved herself in a healthy way, but sometimes everyone has to have a moment of doubt.

"I know." She finally said and nodded weakly. "But my bad qualities are so damn extreme. I think they're the reason why it's so unknowingly hard for me to make close friends."

"You've got me, and I think I'm enough." He half joked and shrugged, earning a Vanessa eye roll.

"You're enough, don't worry." She assured him. "Though it'd be nice with just one more person other than Scott and my dad."

"Haven't made one from the cheerleading squad yet?"

"I'm still the youngest. It's hard to impress those nasty, shallow, boyeaters." She whispered the last part, making him giggle as she moved her fingers in a monsterous way. Of course she didn't mean what she said, she just said it to make him laugh.

"Okay, okay."

"Hey, speaking off which." She suddenly remembered, sitting with her back straighter. "It's my birthday in like, a week and a half. I'm not gonna have a major party, it'll just be my dad, Scott, his mom, probably Stiles too and maybe Zaina from the squad. I don't know, but either way, you're invited. Especially now that my dad seems to like all of sudden."

"Yeah, I should probably take advantage of that before it goes away, shouldn't I?" He murmured, referring to the last part. She nodded in agreement. "Of course I'll come. Just text me the day and time."

"Great." She smiled and scratched her arm again. Derek glanced over at her clock placed on the wall — which he found odd but very useful — and stood up carefully.

"I need to get back home, but it was nice to finally come here. Your room fits you." He said, taking another look at it. "Simple, organized, cool and a lot of space for personal memory things. Love it."

"You're such an asskisser." She snorted and waved at the door. "Just leave already."

"Okay, I will. See you at school." Before he actually left her room, Derek leaned down a little, pecked her cheek and then left. Weirdly, it felt so natural to both of them, but Vanessa still brought her hand up to her cheek with the biggest frown. She heard Jacques saying goodbye to Derek right before the door opened and closed.

* * *

 **hey guys! here's some cute, smoochy derek and vanessa, AND I'VE CHANGED MY TUMBLR URL! it used to be 'rubyslucas' but now it's 'princes-jasmine'! so if you wanna see more of old connections, go to my new user and check the tag out! hugs xx**


	5. birthday party

"Sweetie?" Jacques quietly opened the door to her room, where Vanessa was buried underneath her thick sheet and one leg hanging over the edge. If she wouldn't have had her face pressed against the pillow, he would've thought she was still sleeping. "Happy birthday."

"I'm too tired to be happy." She muttered before turning to her back and propping herself up by using her elbows. "Sup."

"Do you want me to sing you happy birthday?" Jacques asked while he sat down on the edge of her bed, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Please don't. Your singing voice is absolutely awful." She quickly shook her head and waved him off. He chuckled and kissed her forehead instead of singing.

"I made you your breakfast, which is pretty given since it's your birthday." He said choppily, looking up with a funny face. She laughed and examined him quickly.

"Thanks anyway." She leaned forward instead and folded her arms together against her kneecaps. He noticed her absent look and placed a hand on her back, frowning at her.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, just not too enthusiastic about this birthday. Don't know why." She shrugged and looked at him with an assuring smile.

"Let's just eat breakfast for now and then we can watch some _Friends_ to cheer you up." He suggested, making her look down with a grin.

"That sounds great." She nodded.

Vanessa and her dad made their way down to the kitchen where he had prepared everything. She poured some juice into her glass and licked her lips once she saw the waffles in front of her. They ate most of the time in silence, though every now and then something popped up in their heads that they shared with each other. Once they were done eating, Vanessa cleaned the table and then hurried over to the living room.

Jacques shook his head at her before he walked to the front door as someone knocked on it. Vanessa, frowning, leaned her head forward to try and see who it was. She didn't have to wait long considering little Scott approached her with a muffin in his hand.

"Happy birthday!" He exclaimed happily, placing himself beside her. Vanessa giggled, accepted the muffin and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, cus. Now did you or your mom bake this, hm?" She smirked, raising one of her eyebrows knowingly. Scott tried to convince her that he had baked it, but he was a horrible liar. Jacques joined them and put the show on from season two.

"You're getting so old." Scott commented as Vanessa tried to split the muffin in a half, knowing Scott most likely wanted some of it too.

"Yeah, I'm fifteen now, so old." She whispered and handed him his piece.

"Really old." He teased, trying to swat her hands away when she ruffled his dark hair. "Just kidding, you're not old."

"If anyone's old, it's your uncle Jake." She snorted, earning an elbow nudge from her dad.

"How old are you, uncle Jake?" Scott asked and leaned his head to look at him.

"Uh... I'm only thirty seven." He answered quietly.

"See? He's the old one."

"You're both old." Scott concluded proudly and devoured his part of the muffin.

"We're both old." Vanessa repeated as she looked at her dad. He snorted with a stupid smile on his face and then turned his focus to the TV. She wrapped an arm around Scott and sunk down on the couch, feeling too lazy to do anything. Thankfully Scott saved his energy for later when the rest were to come.

"Ross and Rachel are so annoying." Scott muttered, causing Vanessa to quirk one of her eyebrows at him. Sure, she knew the boy had often visisted when she and her dad were watching the show but she didn't think he'd actually remember what he'd seen. "I don't like Ross."

"Yeah, me either. If you're gonna date someone in the future, date a Joey. A Chandler is great too but I'd prefer a Joey." Jacques agreed, diverting his words to his daughter who only rolled her eyes.

"Thanks for the dating advice, dad." She deadpanned. "But yeah, if I'd ever start dating someone, it's definitely a Joey. He's genuine, kind, funny and he cares even though you might not notice that at first. I could definitely date a Rachel too."

"But Rachel is a girl." Scott said carefully. Jacques looked at them and already expected a story from her. He loved them a lot because they made Scott listen intensely and learn something. Even though her comment had been partly a joke, she felt responsible to teach Scott about the rights and wrongs. Vanessa inhaled deeply and turned Scott's head to her.

"Sometimes girls fall in love with girls and boys fall in love with boys. Once upon a time, a woman named... Lilah, has to run from bad people. On her way, the woman stumbled across another fair lady with raven hair and she felt an instant attraction. Of course, because of the society they lived in, this was a big no-no."

"Why?"

"Because according to society, you're only supposed to fall in love with a person of the same gender. Now, does that sound fair?" She asked him softly and he shook his head. "Denying someone love is the worst thing a person can do. We can't help but to love who we love or who think are cute. We're born the way we are and we can't help it. It's called having a sexuality. The running Lilah realized along the way that she was something we call a lesbian, homosexual. Then there are other sexualities, like bisexuals–"

"What's a bisexual?" Scott interrupted curiously.

"It's a person who's attracted to both genders. He or she doesn't have to end up with just one specific gender." She explained with a weak smile.

"What are you?" He asked, making her open her mouth to answer, but nothing came out right away. Her dad frowned a little at her.

"Well, I haven't lived a long life but I think that I'm a heterosexual. I like boys, though I haven't exactly 'experimented' or anything. I haven't even had a proper relationship." She wasn't sure so that was the best answer she could give him. Fortunately Scott seemed to settle with that happily and fixed his focus back on the TV. Vanessa breathed deeply and quietly before she scratched the top of her head and did the same.

They stayed seated like that for a little bit longer than an hour. Vanessa never really dressed up for her birthdays but she did go to her room, brushed her hair, put on her military patterned, loose pants with a black, somewhat fancy and tight tank top. Better than her pyjamas. Scott entered her room and immediately started smelling all of her perfumes — not that she had many, but a few. He decided on one that he liked and told her she should put that on.

Vanessa smiled gratefully and sprayed once on her neck. One of her pet peeves was people who drenched themselves in perfume, especially in school. She also dressed on a black, stretch hair band to get her hair away from her face and folded it once to make it less wide.

"You look pretty." Scott commented. "Even if you're not actually dressing up."

"Thanks." She smiled at him just as the first person knocked on the door. She and Scott quickly walked over to the hallway and opened the door, welcoming in Scott's parents. Melissa hugged her first and then Rafe, bringing a gift with them. "You seriously didn't have to."

"I picked it." Scott tugged her wrist to be annoying. She glared down at him and sighed in defeat. "You'll love it."

"I'm sure I will, Scotty." She chuckled and he walked away. "Thank you." She then whispered to his parents. Melissa waved it off and they went to greet her dad.

Vanessa barely had the time to simply turn around when the next knock occured. She opened the door and grinned at Stiles and his dad, who had taken the time to put on a nice shirt.

"Happy birthday, dear." Noah Stilinski hugged her warmly and then Stiles wrapped his arms around her waist since he was so short.

"Thank you and thanks for coming."

"Of course, it's your birthday."

Vanessa appreciated Stiles' dad so much. He was always so honest, blunt and genuine. He could never hurt a fly and he had become a friend of hers, not just the dad of Stiles. Plus, he loved her for babysitting his sly son so often. Stiles quickly joined his best friend by the corner with toys and then jokingly winked at the birthday girl. Vanessa laughed quietly to herself over that when her phone vibrated on the kitchen counter.

"Hola, this is Vanessa." She answered, leaning her side against the counter.

"Hey, it's Derek."

"Hi." She smiled to herself and pursed her lips to stop doing that.

"I'll be over in a while, I'll probably be a few minutes late. Family stuff. Sorry." He informed her, to which she mentally rolled her eyes at.

"Got it. I'll survive." She replied, feeling all warm inside when he laughed shortly.

"I bet you will."

"What can I say, I'm a survivor."

"Yeah. See you soon, I'll hurry as much as I can."

"Bye." Vanessa hung up slowly, putting her phone in her pocket instead. Jacques walked over to her and folded his arms together carefully.

"You alright?"

"Yeah, it was just Derek. He's late, but he'll be here as soon as possible." She shrugged carelessly.

"Just let me know when I should put out all the snacks and mini food." He smiled softly, receiving a head nod back from her.

Someone knocked on the door and she figured it was Zaina and not Derek. Vanessa opened it with a grin and was embraced in a hug by her cheerleader friend, who wished her a happy birthday and happily grinned back at her.

"Wow, I love your house! It smells so nice." Zaina half gasped, looking around herself as she walked further in. She then noticed the diverse people in the living room, waving at the two younger ones.

"That's Scott, my cousin, and his friend Stiles. I don't have that many friends, obviously, but..." Vanessa trailed off, rolling her thumbs. Personally, she never really cared for making many friends considering she had Derek, her family and now Peter. However, as she looked at the ones celebrating her, maybe it wouldn't hurt to have some more friends her age.

"Oh, please. You've got me now and these people seem really nice." Zaina waved it off with a funny face. She gazed at Vanessa assuringly and severely, which made the birthday girl feel a little bit better.

"Now that we're all here, can we play some game? Please?" Scott asked from the corner, looking up at his cousin with those big, brown eyes. Stiles nodded as if agreeing with Scott's question and pouted a little.

"Sure. What do you want to play?" Vanessa chuckled, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh, how about charades? I know it's old and so over-played, but it's fun." Zaina suggested, to which Scott nodded at. The grown ups seemed to like the idea as well and soon they were all seated on the couch, playing charades.

Surprisingly, Scott was the best at the game this time, both in guessing and being the one charading. Vanessa's mind wasn't entirely in the game but she had fun and it was entertaining watching them all play. Zaina was more active than she anticipated but she wasn't complaining. Maybe she was the friend she needed; someone who was dedicated most of the time, just enough sassy and cool.

After maybe twenty minutes had passed, Vanessa's phone vibrated against her pocket. This time Derek had simply texted her that he stood outside her door. She unconsciously smiled and jumped up from the couch, quick to open the door for her friend. Derek stood there, unsuspectedly nice dressed with his red flannel and a pair of black jeans. He had a half smile, half smirk on his face as he unclenched one hand and displayed what she assumed was a present.

"Just accept it and shut up. It's your birthday." Was the first thing he said. With raised eyebrows, she carefully took the ring between her fingers and examined it with happy eyes. It was an ancient egyptian snake ring, golden and small enough to be noticeable but not too out there.

"It's so cool! Where'd you find it?" She half gasped, looking up at him instead.

"I wa looking through old family stuff when I found it..." Derek began answering as he took a hold of the ring with one hand and her smaller hand in the other one. "I guessed it belonged to my ancestors and my mom said it didn't belong to someone specific..." He continued, carefully placing the ring on her finger. She fought back a ridiculous smile and refrained from blushing. "So now it's yours. I don't know, I thought it'd suit you. I've had such a problem with thinking of a gift for you."

"I love it, Hale. Thank you." Vanessa smiled, admiring the item. "I've never owned something ancient before. Cool."

"There's a first for everything. And happy birthday, Nessa." He leaned down and placed a quick peck on her cheek, which caught her off guard. As if knowing that, Derek smirked stupidly and entered the living room. Thankfully, Jacques got up and greeted him kindly. Vanessa blinked away the shock and leaned her body against the wall with crossed arms. Zaina's eyes landed on Derek and soon she was right beside her cheerleader friend.

"Is that Derek Hale? I didn't know you two knew each other." She whispered, making Vanessa snort. "Seriously! How long have you two known each other?"

"About two years now." Vanessa answered and kept her gaze on him, afraid he'd say something weird and ruin everything. "But we've never really been normal friends. Before high school we had only met three times."

"That... Is a weird friendship. Especially if you've known each other for two years." Zaina agreed carefully. Derek took a few seconds to look at Vanessa as well, a soft look on his face. "But you seem close."

"We are." She stated, then hesitated. "I think. It's weird. I know him a lot, but I don't know that much about him. Do you get the difference? It's that kind of friendship. I know his way of thinking and being but if you'd ask me what his favorite ice cream flavor is, I wouldn't be able to answer."

"I'd rather have a friendship like that." Zaina admitted and Vanessa turned her head to look at the girl. "It feels more real and genuine." A moment of silence passed. "Out of curiosity, what's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

"It's mango." Vanessa chuckled, unfolding her arms and letting them hang by her sides. "Yours?"

"Pear. And chocolate." Zaina answered, looking as if the thought of ice cream made her crave it. "Do you have some?"

"Unfortunately I don't have those flavors." Vanessa said sadly, making a sympathetic face — which made Zaina laugh. "But I do have candy chocolate. And my dad and I made some snacks that I can put on the table."

"Did someone say snacks?" Stiles looked up with his big eyes and licked his lips. How he had heard her was a mystery but Vanessa walked over to the kitchen anyway and started displaying what they had.

It variated from sallads to candy and chocolate, but no one seemed to complain. They all sat by the tables, with some music in the background. The grown ups sat with each other, then Scott and Stiles and lastly the three teenagers. All of them talked most of the time with each other and ate the good stuff. Vanessa thanked the gods that it seemed like her dad started to become fond of Derek because if he were to become a normal friend of hers, they'd need to get along.

As time passed, Scott and Stiles needed to go home and get to bed, so that left Jacques and the teenagers. Zaina and Derek stayed for approximately one and a half hour more than the kids did, and when they left too, Vanessa and her dad began cleaning up. She froze her movement when a twig broke outside the house and footsteps were audible for her. Then the smell reached her nose and she knew exactly who it was.

"I'll be right back." She excused herself before hurrying to the hallway, opened the door, got out and closed it silently. She crossed her arms together and frowned up at Peter.

"Happy birthday." Peter smiled. He too was holding something in his hand.

"How did you even know...?" She asked with a quizzed expression.

"I'm a creepy guy, remember?" He reminded her with a cocky smirk.

"Right." She laughed and slid her hands down her pockets instead. "So I guess I have to accept whatever it is you're holding?"

"Well, I can't exactly force you to keep it but..." He trailed off. She shook her head in defeat and watched as he handed her the gift.

"A sweatband?" She smiled. It was thinner than most sweatbands and it ironically — but on purpose, she assumed — had a cool wolf on it, as if to represent the origin of their friendship.

"Cool, isn't it? Walked by a store the other day and saw it. Figured it'd be a good present." He shrugged with a soft smile.

"It is." She agreed and put it on her right wrist. "Thanks."

Peter glanced down and noticed the snake ring on her finger, which almost made him roll his eyes. Vanessa eyed him discreetly and tried to figure out exactly what she felt around him and what kind of person he truly was. She definitely didn't feel about him the way she felt about Derek because there was such a difference. At least with Derek she knew it was deep and somewhat romantic. With Peter it was just... Mysterious, doubtful but interesting. Almost playful.

"What are you thinking about?" He questioned once he noticed her long look.

"Just... Things. I don't really know." She replied quietly and shrugged uncertainly. "Are we friends? Like, officially friends? I know it's a weird question."

"I'd say we are." He answered without hesitating. "We should probably hang out more often though. That'd be great."

"Great." She grinned, almost relieved. Then Peter gently grabbed her cheeks and pressed his lips against hers. Vanessa raised her eyebrows and chuckled as well as she could with him kissing her. In that moment, she realized exactly what she felt for him: the rush and happiness that comes with something mysterious and spontaneous. There wasn't anything too serious or deep between them. And she knew that wasn't good or safe enough.

"I'm sorry, I can't." She sighed and pulled away with her hands against his chest. "I know you might think I'm spontaneous and all, but I'm really not. Not that much. I think."

"Don't apologize." He waved it off, smiling calmly at her. Although his face didn't completely agree with her and maybe that scared her — the fact that he seemed to read her so easily and almost discover something within her that not even she knew existed. "But you know I'm right, at least a little. Vanessa, you could be the biggest vixen on this planet if you wanted to. You could live such an adventorous life if you wish. But hey, what do I know?"

Peter ended with a shrug that made her want to strangle him. He walked away with a huge smirk, leaving her like a mix between a large question mark and an angry wolf who could rip you to pieces. The worst of it all was that he was right, he knew he was right and he was aware how much that annoyed her. If only Vanessa had known what kind of person he would turn out to be.

* * *

 **i really don't know what to put here cause i have no news to share. pls love my child vanessa and check out my lame tumblr, hugs**


	6. stairs

Scott had spent a lot of time with his cousin. He didn't know why, but he wasn't complaining either. Someone else who had planted themself in the Mccall's residence was the former Mrs. Mccall. Sofia Gomez had knocked on the door a few days ago and asked if she could stay, mostly because she unfortunately missed Vanessa's birthday and wanted to make up for it.

It was a weird group of people, but Vanessa somewhat liked it. Her mom and dad seemed to get along as well as two divorced people could and Scott was just happy to spend time with his cousin and her parents. None of them wanted him to know that the reason his mom sent him over to Vanessa was because Melissa and Rafe had been fighting a lot recently. There was no gentle way to put that.

"I win!" Scott exclaimed happily, putting his final uno card down on the table. "Milkshakes!"

"Ugh." Vanessa sighed and folded her arms together. She then smiled at him and shook her head. "Fine. Get your jacket, we'll go in five minutes."

Scott immediately went to get his jacket and put his shoes on while Vanessa grabbed her phone and some money. From the corner of her eye, she noticed her parents talking and drinking coffee together.

"Don't let him drink too much sugar." Jacques commented with a soft smile.

"Don't worry, I hate him when he's high on sugar." Vanessa snorted and pulled her fingers through her dark hair. "Will you two be okay? I mean, you've never... You know, been alone together since you split."

"We'll be fine." Sofia waved her off, taking another sip from her coffee. "Honestly, we're still friends. Go have fun."

"Are you coming?" Scott called from the hallway. Vanessa waved at her parents before she joined Scott, dressed on her own shoes and a jacket and left with her cousin.

Scott instinctively seized her hand and started whistling on something. Vanessa squeezed his hand and raised her eyebrows at him, amused. Soon she recognized what he was whistling — the theme of the Harry Potter movie. Inevitably, she whistled with him. It was almost as if though he was leading her and they ended up in the diner that she and Peter had spent some time in.

"Where do you wanna sit?" She asked and looked down at him. He scanned the diner before placing them by a corner, in a booth. "And what kind of milkshake do you want?"

"Banana." He decided with a head nod.

"Got that." A waitress suddenly stood by them, scribbling down the order in her notepad. She then smiled at Vanessa, awaiting her to order as well.

"Uh, I'll have a chocolate milkshake. And a plate of fries, please." Vanessa smiled, crossing her arms together on top of the table.

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute." The waitress disappeared, leaving Vanessa and Scott alone.

"You better enjoy this milkshake." Vanessa held her face straight and watched him squirm a little in his seat. Then he called her bluff, tilted his head to the side and smiled.

"You can't pretend to be serious with me, Vee." Scott stated. "I can see right through you." He then whispered.

"Ugh." She made a face of annoyance and momentarily looked away. "I hate that you're right."

"Right. So can I ask you something? Without you lying?" He suddenly sounded very severe and as if he's been dreading to ask this.

"Uh oh. I don't like the tone of that." She murmured and anxiously fiddled with her fingernails. "Do you have to?"

"Why don't mom want me to be at home? Why does she keep sending me to you? I love hanging out with you but I know there's something she's not telling me." He asked, staring at her.

"Scott..." She sighed and looked at him sadly. He didn't let her come up with an excuse though.

"No lies. Grown ups lie all the time, but you're still a kid. Right? So no lies." He quickly added, his baby brown eyes gazing at her with such intensity.

"Sometimes grown ups have to lie not to hurt the kids."

"That doesn't make sense. Lying is what hurts us." He shrugged as if that was obvious. On some level it was, which she acknowledged.

"You're right." She agreed with a weak head nod. "But it's not up to me to say. If your mom feels like you're better off without knowing, I can't tell you. She's your mom."

"And you're my friend." He retorted, catching her off guard. "Please, just tell me the truth. Is it about dad?"

Vanessa opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She did know why Melissa had sent Scott over to them so often these days and she knew about her uncle behaving like a moron for some reason. She wanted to cook up a fake story, but Scott had called her a friend. Not just her cousin, but her friend, and that meant so much. She couldn't lie to him and especially not to those puppy eyes.

"Yeah, it's your dad." She caved in and tucked some hair behind her ear. "He and your mom are just arguing a little so they felt like it'd be better for you to have fun with me instead. They'll get over this soon, I hope."

"I'm tired of them fighting." Scott pouted and looked down at his hands.

"I know you are." Vanessa sighed sadly as she leaned forward a little with her arms folded against the table. She looked at him with empathy since she too was tired of it and Scott didn't deserve to be around two people who only yelled at each other. "I know it sucks right now, but it'll probably get better."

"But what if it doesn't?" He countered with pouty lips. "I don't want them to be mad at each other."

Vanessa was about to answer when the waitress returned with their orders. At least there was some spark of happiness in Scott's eyes when he took a hold of his milkshake, which she weakly smiled at. She starting eating her fries and trying to cheer Scott up. That eventually worked and when she and Scott were in the middle of a funny conversation, someone joined her side, automatically pushing her further in the booth.

"What the hell?" She frowned deeply and turned her head to the side, sighing when Peter wryly smiled at her.

"Hello, beautiful." He greeted, making her roll her yes.

"See, this is why you're creepy. You can't just come and sit down beside me without a warning. And don't say that so... Creepily." She replied with a bothered expression on her face, though it soon disappeared.

"Who's this?" Scott asked, making the two look at him at the same time.

"A friend." Vanessa frowned with her lips and smiled assuringly to her cousin.

"And I'm assuming this is your baby cousin. Scott, was it?" Peter sent Scott a charming smile but the younger one merely raised his eyebrows unimpressed. Vanessa held back a snort and felt almost proud. "Tough crowd."

"That smile doesn't even work on me, why'd you think it work on an eight year old?" She deadpanned and then ate a french fry. Peter, to be annoying, carefully grabbed her milkshake and drank from it.

"I have to go, but I saw you and just wanted to say hi." Peter said, putting the milkshake back on the table. Vanessa nodded slowly as he leaned in and she shuddered when he placed a kiss on her cheek. Her face was facing Scott, so the young one assumed Peter was just whispering something in her ear.

"Stop doing that." She murmured and stared intensely at him. She didn't have to explain what she was referring to because Peter did it on purpose. Since they were both werewolves, both of their senses were enhanced and he loved taking advantage of that, making her feel more strongly than an average person would.

"See you around." Peter whispered with a smirk spread across his face before he got up from the booth and left the diner.

"He's weird." Scott uttered and continued drinking from his milkshake. Vanessa grinned and cocked her eyebrows upwards in agreement.

"Yeah, I know. I seem to draw weird guys toward me." She muttered and tapped with her fingernails against the table, stopping occasionally to eat a fry.

"Derek's not weird, if that's what you mean. He's the guy who celebrated your birthday with us, right?"

"Oh, believe me he is." She chuckled and made a funny face. "Why? Did you like him?"

"He was nice." Scott shrugged and snatched a fry himself. "I don't really know him, but he was nice on your birthday."

"If you say so." She smiled and finally finished her fries. "What do you wanna do after this? We've got some time to do something fun on and then I can take you home."

"I'd like to... Play football." He decided with a cheeky smile. "At that park thing."

"It's a school yard, but sure." She chuckled and drank the last of her milkshake. "I'm not sure there's a football there, but we can check."

Scott was already finished with his, so Vanessa got up and paid for their food while Scott moved to the exit. She soon joined him and left the diner, shielding her eyes from the falling sun by putting a hand against her forehead.

"Vee?" Scott murmured and looked up at her. She returned the gaze to silently tell him he had her attention. "Thanks for being a great cousin." That made her stop walking and slowly kneel down in front of him.

"Scott, you're scaring me. What's going on?" Vanessa asked carefully. She didn't want him to think that she rejected his feelings, ever, but at the moment he was acting weirdly and sensitive. She'd love a comment like that anytime but he said it with a strange tone.

"I just wanted you to know that." He tried to shrug it off. She only had to tilt her head sideways to show that she wasn't going to drop it that easily. "I don't know. I've been feeling weird and... Lonely? Vee, I'm not sure. I just don't want to be alone and I want you to know that I love you."

Vanessa gently took a hold of his arms, partly to comfort him and partly to pick up just how lonely he felt thanks to her werewolf side. Exhaling deeply, she blinked at the ground and then looked at him with a soft expression, one that Scott loved because it calmed him.

"You're not alone. I don't know exactly what's going on between your parents or how much you've heard, but you'll always have me. Always, and always by your side. And your uncle. They'll figure it out, I promise." She assured him, raising one hand to cup his cheek. Perhaps she shouldn't have made that promise, but she needed to comfort him somehow.

"Thanks." He almost whispered, moving his lips a little to the side. She kissed his forehead before standing up straight and continuing to walk.

Scott dragged himself beside her and kept his head hanging a bit. Vanessa decided to pick up her phone and send an S.O.S text to Derek, asking him to join them at the high school yard. Thankfully, he answered that he'd be there soon. She just didn't want to be alone with Scott and some extra company wouldn't do any harm. If anything, it'd give Scott someone else's presence to enjoy.

"Look!" Vanessa grinned and pointed to the corner at the football field. "We're lucky."

To her comfort, the fact that there actually was a football lying in the corner seemed to make Scott happy again. He walked over there and kicked it to her. Vanessa stopped it with her foot and then backed with it to her side of the field. The two began playing and she tried her hardest not to cheat by unintentionally use her werewolf powers. That often happened and when she caught herself being too excited for the game, she tried to tone it down a bit because that usually helped.

Inevitably though, Vanessa kicked the ball with more force than intended and hadn't Scott bent down so quickly, it would've hit him in the face. At least something good came out of her being too powerful: Scott's reflexes had really improved within two years. She exhaled in relief when the football missed her cousin but soon saw that it flew right against Derek's stomach.

"Shit." Derek groaned and bent forward in pain, putting an arm around his stomach. Vanessa wanted to feel bad but she couldn't stiffle the chuckle that escaped her throat.

"Sorry." She smirked and fixed her eyes on him while he grabbed the ball and approached her.

"What's up?" He cocked his head and eyed her quickly.

"The sky."

"Don't be a smartass, Nessa." Derek deadpanned before he turned to Scott. "What about you, little guy?"

"I'm good. Are you gonna play with us?" Scott answered with a question, sliding his hands down his pockets.

"Is that okay with you?" Derek retorted to be sure he wasn't unwanted by the guy.

"Of course." Scott shrugged and looked up at Vanessa. She mirrored his movement and was about to smile when Derek bounced the football against her head, causing her to glare at him for a moment.

"Consider it revenge. I had no idea you could kick so hard." He said as if that would make him less annoying.

"Neither did I." Scott said, holding a hand against his stomach as if it was hurting. Vanessa made an apologetical face, remembering she had accidentally hit him once or twice too.

"Oh wow, you're awful." Derek whispered teasefully, earning a punch on the arm as response.

"Hey, I'm great with kids." She protested and crossed her arms together. Derek and Scott shared a long look, one where Derek silently and skeptically asked Scott if that was true and the young one weakly shook his head. "Glad you two are bonding." She added sarcastically and snatched the ball from him.

Derek and Scott did bond during this time. The three played for quite some time and changed the teams frequently. After a long while, Vanessa took a break from the game and placed herself on one of the benches. She put her hands between her thighs and watched the two boys run around, smile and laugh. It warmed her heart a lot to see Scott so happy and to finally hang out with Derek. She still knew there was something he wasn't telling her because let's be honest, she could read him like an open book, but it didn't bother her at the moment. Suddenly it had gotten really late and Scott needed to get home. She whistled to get their attention and stood up.

"Do we have to go home already?" Scott sighed.

"Yeah, sorry."

"It was fun meeting you again, little guy." Derek said with a smile as he ruffled Scott's hair. Scott, like any other kid would, smiled a little awkwardly and pursed his lips. He then took the ball to return it to the corner. "And you. It's been a while."

"Since we hung out outside school? Yeah, it was." Vanessa said and scratched her upper arm.

"Are you mad at me or something?" He asked with a pained expression.

"Do I have a reason to be mad at you for?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Derek frowned at her, seeming genuinely clueless as to why she would be mad. Vanessa gazed at him for a while with a weary expression because she had no intention nor energy to have this discussion with him at the moment.

"Forget it, I need to bring Scott home." She murmured with a weak voice before placing one hand on Scott's shoulder and leading him away from there.

Scott remained silent on the way home and once they reached the house, Vanessa grimaced due to the faint alcohol smell that came from inside the house. She decided to follow her cousin inside and up the stairs to his room, in good time it seemed. Closing the door, she sighed out of annoyance when Melissa and Rafael's voices got louder. It didn't take her long to realize that they were right outside Scott's room and getting the kid's attention.

"What are they fighting about?" Scott asked quietly while she sat down on the edge of his bed.

"I don't know, Scotty. Come on, do you wanna try to sleep?" She asked and looked at him.

"I can't. Not when they're yelling." He mumbled before opening the door and walking out to his parents. "What's going on?"

"Scott, go back inside." Melissa almost ordered, desperately trying to send him back to his room with her eyes.

"Not until you tell me what's going on."

"Listen to your mother." Rafael slurred, causing a hard and angry expression to form on Vanessa's face. It was even more intensified when he took a hold of Scott's arm in an attempt to push him back inside. The little kid unfortunately made some resistance and that's when it happened.

"Scott!" Vanessa shot herself up from the bed and ran down the stairs after him. Scott fell down because of his dad and hit his head so hard on the floor that everyone heard it. Once she reached him, Vanessa quickly fell down on her knees and lifted his head carefully. "Scott? Scott, are you okay? Scott!"

"Oh my god..." Melissa joined the two with tears in her eyes. Vanessa shook his cousin for almost an entire minute until he finally opened his eyes and groaned.

"Hey." Vanessa weakly smiled down at him and discreetly took away some pain thanks to her werewolf powers. "You okay?"

"What happened? Why are we down here and not..." Scott had to pause and grimace out of pain. "Not in my room?"

"What do you... You don't remember?" She asked with a frown and helped him sit up.

"Remember what?"

"Nothing." Vanessa decided it was best not to tell him. Melissa nodded in agreement and then turned her focus to her husband. Vanessa took that as a sign and quickly helped Scott back up to his room where she shut the door. Scott didn't hear it, but that night, Melissa told Rafael to simply get out and leave.

"Aren't you gonna go home?" Scott questioned as he buried himself underneath his sheet.

"Do you want me to?" She raised her eyebrows and pushed some of his hair away from his face.

"Not really." He admitted and gazed at her. She softly smiled and nodded a little.

"Then I'll stay and we can make pancakes tomorrow for breakfast. Sound good?"

"Sounds perfect."

Vanessa always had some extra clothes in his room and a mattress ready to be slept on under his bed. She put her hair up in a bun, changed to something more comfortable in the bathroom and said goodnight to him. She dreaded the morning though, because how do you tell a kid that his mom kicked his dad out because his dad had alcohol problems?

* * *

 **heya! hope you guys this chapter and if you wanna see more of vanessa, edits and such, always check out my tumblr! it's 'princes-jasmine'! xx**


	7. kidnapped

"So... He really left." Jacques mumbled sadly, his eyes fixed on the floor. Vanessa pursed her lips and folded her arms together.

"Did you know about their problems? That they were that serious?" She asked carefully and watched him shake his head.

"I think that hurting Scott like that really was it for her. Which I understand. I just don't get why Rafe would want to mess his life up like this. Drinking? Fighting with his wife? Hurting his son? I don't get it."

Vanessa sighed to herself and pulled her fingers through her hair. The fact that Scott didn't remember his fall from the stairs was both good and bad; It'd be hard knowing that your own father was so drunk that he hurt you, but it also made it harder for Melissa to explain why his dad left.

"Maybe this is better." She said with a shrug. "Their relationship never seemed to be perfect, or even great. And if this means that Scott will grow up with a loving mom without any fighting then I'd prefer that. It just sucks that this is uncle Rafael."

"Yeah." He whispered and caressed his own hands in frustration.

Vanessa was about to get up when her eyes landed on the window and the night sky falling. She felt panic grow inside of her as the full moon became clearer for each second. Jacques frowned at his daughter's sudden worried expression.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed. I'm tired." She lied, standing up and heading for her room.

"Okay... Goodnight." Jacques kept having a puzzled look on his face as he disappeared.

Vanessa closed the door and then opened her window before she carefully jumped out of it and landed on her feet. Not perfectly steady, but she landed without harming anything. She hated lying to her dad more than anything and sneaking off every full moon just to make sure she wouldn't hurt him, but she swore to tell him the truth soon. Just not tonight.

Thanks to Peter, Vanessa could control the full moon's rage. Tonight Kaleb had called for a pack meeting and she hated those meetings since she felt like an outcast and these meetings always ended with all of them arguing. Kaleb seemed severe though, so she hurried to their meeting spot in the woods and almost jumped when a hand fell on her shoulder.

"Come on." Kaleb muttered and dragged her to their basement. The rest of the pack — John, Dalia and Emma — were standing very differently. John, who was the more careless one of them, stood with his back against the wall and arms crossed as always. Dalia was more intimidating most of the time, but now she actually looked afraid and guilty. Emma stood guarded, as if someone was coming.

"Kaleb, please let me explain." Dalia began, but he quickly dismissed her.

"Shut up. You got us into this mess." Kaleb snapped, earning everyone's full attention. Dalia's bottom lip quivered for just a second but everyone noticed.

"Can you tell us what the hell is pissing you off?" John sighed tiredly. Vanessa suppressed a smirk.

"What's pissing me off is that Dalia here has messed up big time. We've got one rule and one rule only: Do not mess with any hunters, especially not the Argents! What does Dalia do? She kills one of them!" Kaleb shared and he had to calm himself down for a second.

"It was self defence and on a full moon! I didn't mean to, and I didn't know it was an Argent!" Dalia persisted, though it was obvious none of that mattered to their alpha.

Kaleb pointed his finger at her, ready to unleash a full on rage, when there was a sudden smoke filling the basement followed by a blinding flash. Vanessa didn't think twice as she escaped the basement, running away from there like the rest of them. She was sure that the Argent hunters had tracked them and she should've been afraid but all she could focus on was to run.

The darkness hid the shape behind her, but Vanessa could clearly hear someone chasing and unfortunately catching up with her. Once the hunter was close to her, she decided to turn around and high-kick him in the head. She managed to hit him but the hunter was quickly back on his feet and wrapped an arm around her neck. To prevent her from screaming, he placed his hand against her mouth and hastily injected something into her neck that stung at first. She made some resistance until whatever he injected her with spread across her body. Soon she closed her eyes and fell into unconsciousness.

Vanessa couldn't tell whether or not she had a dream during this time. She knew she wasn't home sleeping in her bed because occasionally she half woke up and then fell asleep again. It was frustrating to say at least and thankfully she could open her eyes after a while. Unfortunately, she had no idea how much time had passed or where she was. It smelled like sweat, anxiety and electricity.

"Ah, finally waking up." A voice said from in front of her. Vanessa had to struggle to fully open her eyes. It was only then when she realized she was hanging from the ceiling with her arms up. Her muscles had already grown tired. "I'll admit, you weren't the target but you were there." Vanessa intended to respond but she couldn't. "Oh right, sorry."

"Who..." Vanessa began, but the pain her throat was too intense. Then she could slowly feel it leave as whoever had her twisted a button. "What do you want?"

"One of yours killed one of mine." He stated simply, referring to Dalia. Vanessa sighed deeply and tried to make out what he looked like. The hunter was old and had a menacing look in his thin eyes.

"So you're torturing the innocent instead?" She scoffed and twisted her wrists a little.

"Innocent? You think you're innocent?" It was as if though her words had flipped his mood completely. His face radiated anger and he did something she didn't expect: he slapped her cheek. "You're a filthy, dangerous predator that needs to be put down! Innocent? Tell that to the person you'll end up hurting one day! It's inevitable. You can't be a werewolf and not do something wicked. You just wai–"

"Dad!" Another person entered the room, putting a silence to the old man. Vanessa managed to look at the new one, tears threatening to leave her eyes. She kept strong though and pushed them back.

"Don't interrupt me, Chris." The old one snarled. Thankfully, Chris didn't seem to be that intimidated by his father. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk to her." Chris proclaimed, eyes on his dad. "Alone."

"Not granted. You can talk to her, but I'm staying."

"Fine." Chris muttered and took a few steps closer to her. Vanessa flinched: partly because he scared her and partly because of the electrified wires connected to her. "This will be a lot easier for you if you co-operate."

"Screw you."

"Oh, I hate it when they're feisty." A third voice, this time female, groaned. Vanessa nearly rolled her eyes since it seemed like a circus but stopped herself before she could irritate them even more.

"Which one of yours killed ours?" Chris asked, ignoring the female. In the corner of Vanessa's eye, she could see the father leaning against the wall with a sly look on his face. She felt a strong urge to spit in it.

"Like I'd tell you savages that." She snorted and barely shook her head.

"Oh, we're the savages?" The female scoffed, feigning hurt.

"Yes." Vanessa snapped back with such steadiness and strength in her voice that all of them flinched. "Yes, you are. If you can't even see that then you're delusional and incredibly stupid. You're keeping a kid locked up gods know where, torturing her with electricity and you can't even admit that you're savages? It's ridiculous, really." She laughed a bit. "I've never hurt a fly and yet I'm responsible for what happened? Go to hell."

"Oh, sweetie..." The female chuckled, though it was evident she was trying to keep up a confident facade. "If you think you can trash talk us like this without consequences–"

"Kate!" Chris exclaimed angrily. He was obviously getting tired of them being unnecessarily evil. "Please, just tell us."

"No." She repeated. Kate quietly growled out of anger and quickly reached for the knob that controlled the currents to her bonds, increasing the electricity. Vanessa's entire body shook and she had to bite her lip hard not to satisfy Kate with a sound of pain.

"That's enough!" Chris pushed her away and turned the knob back.

"Why, Chris?" The old one spoke up from his corner. "Why are you being so soft?" He questioned with crossed arms.

"She hasn't done anything to us. We don't even know her name." Chris retorted and directed his attention back to Vanessa. "Who's your alpha?"

Vanessa sighed out of annoyance and looked to the side with a weary expression. She twisted her hands a little to keep them awake and dangled, hoping she was showing clearly that she wasn't going to answer their stupid questions.

"Seems like her bond to her alpha is too strong." Kate misjudged, frowning a little. Vanessa laughed. She laughed and caused them all to look at her with confusion as she imagined having a close bond with Kaleb.

"Oh gods, if you knew how wrong you are." She chuckled and pursed her lips.

"If you're not close with him or her, then why can't you tell us the name?" Chris asked carefully. The old one seemed to be extra intrigued by this.

"Because I'm a good person! Just because I hate the guy doesn't mean I'm gonna sell him out to a couple of... Whatever you disgusting people are. I won't tell you the name of either of them, okay. I don't even care how much you torture me. I won't tell you shit." She slightly raised her eyebrows. They seemed almost stunned by this.

"Dad?" Kate murmured and looked at him as if he would tell her what to do. He simply nodded toward the door and started exiting the room, with his daughter following behind like a tail. Chris hesitated but sighed as he too had to leave. However, she noticed that he decreased the currents even more before he left, allowing her to exhale.

Vanessa figured that the more electricity they forced into her, the less her werewolf abilities worked. The slap from the dad still stung on her cheek and she could feel bruises build up on her body that her abilities didn't heal. The room was still pitch black even when she was using her werewolf eyes. This was draining all her power and energy and she loathed it.

After a while, Vanessa slowly closed her eyes and half fell asleep. It was hard considering she was hanging from the roof and getting weak electricity shooks frequently, but she managed. Unfortunately, that sleep was interrupted by the lights turning on. She didn't know exactly how long she'd been out, but it felt like a long time.

"You know, the least you could do is feed me. I haven't eaten since... Well, I don't even know." She muttered. The door was locked and Kate approached her with a smirk.

"As if you're worth it."

"Do you have some personal vendetta against me or something? Or are you just naturally mean?"

"Sweetie–"

"Don't call me that, we're practically the same age." Vanessa spat. Only then did she realize that Kate and she actually were around the same age. Chris seemed older, so she assumed he was the older brother. "How can you be so cruel? You're just a kid too."

"A kid who knows how cruel the world is." Kate replied and this time Vanessa did roll her eyes.

"Oh, please. Drop the clichés." She groaned, tilting her head to the side. "If you're gonna torture me by speaking to me, at least do it like a proper person. You're not someone's Myspace caption."

"I hate you already."

"You don't even know me." Vanessa made a funny face while Kate put on her angry one. "And please, if someone's got the right to hate someone, I'm the one who should hate you. But you know what? I don't."

"What?" Kate frowned, unable to understand why she didn't hate her. Vanessa merely shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't hate you, Kate. I feel sorry for you because you've been dragged into this shit and probably manipulated by your dad. You should be out having fun, being a teenager, but instead you're here, thinking you know what's right and wrong. How can I hate you for unintentionally being tossed into a mess? I don't hate you. I hate what your family does and probably what you stand for too, but it's not your fault." Vanessa explained, holding back a smile when Kate obviously didn't like her answer. Kill them with kindness, they say. Vanessa loved that expression more than ever at this point. And she was telling the truth.

"Ugh." Kate muttered, at loss of a good response. Instead she did as her father and slapped Vanessa across the other cheek, to which the werewolf glared at her for. "What's wrong with you?! You should want me dead!"

"Is that what your dad tells you?" Vanessa laughed, inhaling deeply. "Wow. Now I feel really sorry for you."

"Stop it!" Kate yelled as she marched over to the currents knob. "Stop pitying me! Stop being so obnoxiously sweet and kind! Just stop!"

"Or what? You'll electrify me some more? Won't make me hate you." Vanessa knew she was pushing it now but if truth-talking was the way to get through Kate, that's what she'll do.

"Fine! Then enjoy this." Kate muttered before she intensified the electricity. Vanessa held her face even though her entire body was shaking as Kate smirked at her, waved and then left the room again.

Once Vanessa was alone, all her feelings struck her at once. She was so angry with Kaleb and Dalia especially considering it was their fault she was in this position. It was their fault she got kidnapped and tortured. She was angry at herself for not being stronger. On top of that, she was sad and in so much pain. Holding up her facade to these hunters had been hard and now she could finally cry silently in the darkness. She wondered how far these hunters had ever gone with a werewolf. Surely they couldn't kill her for something another pack member did? The idea that they might almost crushed Vanessa mentally. It was too much to worry about. All they wanted was answers and she feared that she might give them exactly that soon.

After time had passed — Vanessa had again no idea how much — the door quietly opened again. She didn't even bother trying to harden up her face this time. Thankfully, it was Chris. Not because she liked him, but she disliked him the least since he was nice to her. As nice as you can be in this situation, at least. Swallowing a lump in her throat, she stared at him and felt the tears sting in her eyes.

"You people are horrible."

"I know." He said, completely shocking her and catching her off guard. She was so ready to verbally fight him, but he apparently agreed with her. "We have a code, a rule, and it's 'We hunt those who hunt us'. You haven't personally hunted us. We also have another rule and that is that we do not hurt children. You're a kid."

"Yet here I am." She whispered.

"My dad went over the line when he ordered for you to be kept here." Chris stated as he fully turned the electricity off. Vanessa had never felt so relieved in her entire life. "You don't deserve this. We can find whoever killed one of ours without torturing a kid." He continued while he approached her in order to release her hands.

"You're letting me go?" Vanessa frowned. When her hands were released and she dropped to the floor, her knees buckled a bit. Fortunately, Chris was anticipating that so he caught her quickly. "Just like that?"

"I should've the second you were brought here." He sighed and carefully removed his hands from her. "Can you run? You might have to once I open the door for you."

"Yeah, I think I can do that." She nodded and caressed her lightly bruised wrists. The former tears had dried on her face, making her cheeks sticky. "But seriously, you're just gonna let me go?"

"You're innocent in this case."

"Thank you." She said and looked him in the eyes, nodding weakly. "Really."

"Come on, everyone's sleeping but we have to be quiet just in case."

Chris opened the door as quietly as he could and led her up some stairs. Vanessa figured they were in a basement and followed silently. He then continued walking her toward the exit door and unlocked that one without making a sound. That was her queue. Vanessa looked at him and allowed her extreme gratefulness take over: she quickly gave him a tight hug before running out and away from that hellhole.

Her feet carried her quickly back to her house. She realized that a night had passed and the sun was on its way up. Once she reached her neighborhood, Vanessa slowed her pace down and then reached for the doorknob to her home. Inside, the lights in the kitchen were turned on and her dad was sitting by the table, elbows against the table and his head pressed against his fists.

"Dad." She choked out and let her tears fall again. Jacques head shot up at her voice and he hastily stood up from his chair, just in time to get himself embraced in a hug from his daughter.

"Oh, thank God." He whispered and rested his head against the top of hers. "I was so worried. Where the hell have you been?!"

"I can explain, I promise." She sniffed, wiping away her tears with her hands.

Vanessa carefully pulled away from the hug and sat down by the table, opposite to where he was sitting. Jacques did the same and looked at her with despair and somewhat relief in his eyes. Clearly she had been gone for a very long time. And so Vanessa simply told him everything, from the moment she wandered into the woods and got bitten to being kidnapped. She explained why she always had to be alone during a full moon, why her senses were sometimes too good to be human, why she prefered keeping everything to herself.

Jacques, like anyone would, couldn't believe her at first. His own daughter being a werewolf? Too absurd to think about. Then she proved her story to him by showing her eyes and claws, and she explained the bruises. Never in three years had she had any signs of physical pain — such as bruises, marks, etc — so seeing her like this helped him believe.

"So you're... Like... A werewolf? The supernatural kind? A loba?" He stuttered with a frown, rolling his hand as some sort of gesture.

"Yeah." She whispered and fiddled with her fingers. "I've been meaning to tell you so many times now, but... It's just been so hard. I didn't want to put that burden on you, even though I know that telling the parents is always better. Now you know."

"Wow." He murmured and rubbed the back of his neck, processing and registering the news. Vanessa feared that he'd be afraid of her or blatanly hate what she was, but he showed no signs of that. He just seemed shocked. She couldn't blame him though.

"I know it's hard to take in, but you'll get used to it. And there are some perks with it." She tried to ease him up, receiving an absent nod back.

"I just... A werwolf. Wow. I don't know whether or not I hate it or think it's cool. Considering what happened to you just now..."

"I'll get stronger and better at defending myself. If anything showed me that, it was this. But I'll need your support, dad. Please, don't hate me."

"Hate you?" He asked and frowned at her before seizing her hands in his. "I could never hate you, Vanessa. Get that? I love you so much. You're my daughter and I'll always stand by your side."

Jacques managed a smile and Vanessa grinned as a weight lifted from her shoulders. She nodded gratefully at him and closed her eyes for a brief moment, happy that her dad didn't see her differently. That was all she needed at the moment.

* * *

 **be sure to check out my tumblr 'princes-jasmine' for vanessa content xx**


	8. secrets

Vanessa hadn't left her house for days. After being kidnapped, she decided that the best way to rest up was to stay at home and watch tv shows with her dad. Zaina had called to make sure her friend was still alive and filled her in with school things. Vanessa hadn't heard from anyone else and she hadn't reached out to anyone. She just wanted to be alone.

"Don't you think it's time to get some fresh air?" Jacques commented and sat down beside her on the couch. She shrugged a little and finished eating her sandwich. "Sweetie."

"Yes, it is. And I'm gonna go back to school after the weekend." She agreed reluctantly, making a face due to the thought of school.

"Good. As healing as it feels to just stay home, you have to get out at some point." Jacques sent her an apologetical expression. "And you know, make sure people know you're alive."

"With people you mean Derek." She clarified and raised her eyebrows at him. "The thing is, we didn't use to hang out every day. Months could pass without us seeing each other, so me being gone for nearly two days isn't that big of a deal."

"But you do see each other every day now. He hasn't called, has he?"

Vanessa peered up at him and her shoulders sank a little. Jacques sighed, wrapped an arm around her and kissed her on the top of her head. She hated that Derek not even checking up on her hurt her, especially since she knew something was taking up his time and he wouldn't tell her. She wished she could just... Not care about him, not wanting his attention. Before she could utter a word, her phone vibrated on the table.

"Hola, it's Vanessa." She answered cautiously. The voice on the other line wasn't someone she expected though.

"Hey, it's Peter." Peter said, sounding somewhat relieved. "I don't wanna sound more like a creep but how are you? Are you home?"

"Hi." She smiled down. "Yeah, I'm home. Why?"

"I know what happened, Dalia told me." He admitted and she unconsciously brought her free hand up to her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"I'm pretty good." She shrugged and looked out the window. "As good as I can feel, I guess."

"Can you come out for a while or are you busy?"

"Give me five minutes."

Vanessa hung up and stood up from the couch. Jacques raised his eyebrows questiongly, but she shrugged him off and went to her room to change her clothes. Once she was done, she put her hair up in a ponytail and jogged to the hallway.

"Be careful!" Her dad called as he poked his head sideways to look at her.

"Oh, right! Remember Peter, the guy I went out with some time ago?" She snapped her fingers in remembrance and watched him nod. "He's a werewolf too. I'll be back soon."

With that, she exited the house and walked down the street. When Peter said 'come out' she just assumed he was nearby and she was right. Hearing her footsteps, Peter turned around and hurried toward her. Vanessa frowned a little but felt the need to wrap her arms around his neck and hold him.

"What'd they do to you?" He asked and examined her face, carefully caressing her cheek with his thumb. She winced a little. "Sorry."

"It's fine, I can feel it all healing now. They just... I don't know, used electricity to torture me. Really though, I'm feeling better." She exhaled and locked her gaze with his. His light eyes seemed to express something she had never seen on him: softness and a caring side.

Before he could say anything else, Vanessa put a hand against his neck and pressed her lips against his. Even Peter seemed to be surprised by this, though he didn't waste any time dwelling on that surprise. He kissed her back and pulled her closer with his hands on her waist. She gently grasped the collar of his shirt with her free hand and smiled through the kiss. At this moment, she really didn't care about what's good or bad, safe or not. She just needed to feel something and she knew she could do that with Peter.

"What's..." Peter started, having to pull away with a wide smile. "What was that for?" He asked, a slightly confused look on his face.

"I just... Thanks. For being my friend and for being honest with me." She shrugged and enjoyed the feeling of his thumb caressing her lower back. "I like you, Peter. I really do. We don't have that much in common and we're so different but I don't care right now."

"Then it's good that I don't care that you don't care." He murmured before kissing her again, more intense now that he was prepared this time.

Vanessa giggled — not in a feminine and cute way, more like a husky and satisfied way — as she tangled her fingers in his hair. Peter made sure there was no space at all between their bodies and he deepened the kiss into making out instead. Since she didn't like standing and only kissing for a longer time, she carefully ended it and licked her bottom lip inside her mouth.

"I'll see you at school." She said quietly and slowly, enjoying the flustered look on his face.

Vanessa smirked while she walked back to the house. After the weekend, she decided to get up from bed and actually get to school. It was tough but she managed. Zaina greeted her instantly and they talked for a while until they had to get to class. Thankfully, no one had really noticed she was gone. After her last lesson, she put her books in her locker and stood there for a moment.

"Oh my god." A voice behind her uttered. Vanessa turned around an her shoulders rose at the sight of Derek. Then she realized he was surprised to see her and confused. "You've been gone."

"Glad you noticed." She muttered and folded her arms together.

"I'm sorry. I've just been–"

"Busy?" She filled in for him with frowning lips.

"Where have you been?" He asked. She sighed, partly because she couldn't tell him and partly because she didn't want to.

"Doesn't matter. See you around."

Vanessa walked past him and forced herself not to look back. When she was on the schoolyard, Peter appeared in front of her and smiled down. Rolling her eyes, she shook her head over his creepiness and slid her hands down her back pockets. Then his smile faded.

"There's something I need to tell you." He proclaimed, making her fidget a little.

"That doesn't sound so good." She murmured and frowned.

"Remember when you thanked me for being your friend? It's time for me to be both a shitty and a good friend." His words didn't calm her at all. "I know what Derek's hiding from you."

"You do?" She questioned and felt her stomach clench. "How?"

"Because I saw what he's hiding. I can show you, if you want. Unless you think he'll tell you soon."

Vanessa appreciated that Peter didn't force this secret revealing on her. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Derek would tell her anytime soon. And if this secret could be shown, then maybe it wasn't so bad to have Peter tell her it? After a moment of contemplation, she silently allowed him to show her by nodding. He led her back inside the school and toward the room where the musical students practiced and had their lessons.

"What–" She started, confused as to why this room would reveal Derek's secret, but stopped when she saw what was happening inside.

Peter put a finger against his lips to tell her to be quiet. Not that Vanessa cared considering Derek and a girl were kissing in the room. Vanessa hated herself for it but tears formed in her eyes and slowly ran down her cheeks. She wasn't even sure of what exactly she felt. Anger? Sadness? Disappointment? Most likely all of them. Then Derek and the girl pulled away and told each other that they loved one another. Of course Vanessa had to hear that because of her stupid werewolf abilities.

Vanessa wiped her cheeks and as fast as she could walked away from there, out from the school area and to the street. Peter followed with heavy shoulders and watched her pace back and forth. All her feelings were so strong at the moment that he could barely make them out. No wonder Derek hadn't noticed she was gone: he had a girlfriend to focus on. What she didn't understand was why he didn't just tell her. How hard could it have been? And how cruel wasn't he for not telling her?

"You have every right to be angry but please say something. You're scaring me."

"Good." She snapped and stared at him for a moment. "I just... I hate him for not telling me. I mean, how hard could it be? Just go to me and say, hey, I've got a girlfriend! Is that really so hard? It's not like we were a thing. We're supposed to be friends and friends tell each other stuff like this! And I hate him for not even bothering to talk with me about our kiss, about the time that he and I could've been a thing! One time in the school hallway doesn't count."

"I don't blame you. At all." Peter said, taking a few steps closer to her. "I just thought you deserved to know."

"Did you show me them just to make me feel sad? Did you think that that was going to benefit you somehow?" It was a reach, she knew this, but her feelings were all over the place.

"Vanessa." Peter said strongly, which sort of surprised her. The only friend she's had the recent years had been Derek, and she scared him just by looking at him. "Of course not. I'm your friend and I thought it'd be best for you to know. Because I know it will take you time to process and get over this and the sooner, the better."

"I'm not mad at you." She stated, a thoughtful look on her face. "Most people get mad at the messenger when they get told that, I don't know, their partner is being unfaithful. I don't get that. The messenger is just trying to be a friend, so why would I be mad at that person?"

"Derek's pretty stupid. Hope you know that." Peter commented with his hands down his pockets. She managed a crooked smirk.

"Of course I know that. Not just because of me but because of him and I. I'm sure his girlfriend is awesome but what could be more comfortable and safe than us? Ugh, why am I talking like this? Maybe she's so great, what the hell do I know?"

"Hey." Peter smiled and grabbed her cheeks in his hands. "This girl can't possibly have with him what the two of you have. I doubt that. If I were him–"

"If you were Derek, you'd be with that girl." She interrupted, placing a hand against his chest. "But you're not. And right now, I'm so thankful for that."

"Do you want to meet my family?" He asked out of the blue.

"What?" Vanessa laughed and frowned at him.

"Because I think they'd cheer you up. They're fun like that." He explained with a shrug, dropping his hands.

"You sure? Mysterious and creepy Peter wants to invite me home to his place?" She teased, folding her arms together. "I'd love too."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't make a big deal out of it." Peter rolled his eyes as he started walking forward with her beside him. "I should tell you that we're a big family and we all live in the same house."

"Really? Where do you find a house that big?"

"In the woods." He cocked his head sideways and smirked down at her. "Still wanna come?"

"Definitely! It sounds cool and spooky." She shot down his attempt to scare her and licked her bottom lip between her teeth. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and continued walking toward the forest.

Thankfully, it wasn't that deep into the woods. Not that Vanessa was afraid, but ever since being chased and bit by a werewolf, she preferred staying away from it. The house really was huge and had that old vibe to it. She could hear a lot of voices and smell many scents from inside. Peter led her inside carefully, where she was met by two kids running past her, laughing.

"Like I said, we all live here." He chuckled and watched her grin. Soon a woman approached them with raven hair and kind eyes.

"Peter, who's this?" She asked softly, then turned to look at Vanessa. "I'm Talia, Peter's sister."

"I'm Vanessa, Peter's... Friend." She smiled back and slid her hands down her pockets. "It's nice to meet you."

"Do we have visitors?" A young girl gasped as she jogged over to them. She had dark brown hair and plump features, looking like she was about Scott's age. "Hi, I'm Cora!"

"Hi, Cora." Vanessa laughed and crouched down a little. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Cora shrugged and intertwined her hands behind her back. "You're a werewolf too, aren't you? I can smell it."

"Cora!" Talia scolded and frowned. "I'm sorry, she's a very blunt and imaginative person."

"It's okay." Vanessa shrugged it off. "And yes, I am actually."

"You are?" Talia questioned and folded her arms together. "Who's your alpha?"

"Kaleb." Vanessa sighed and pulled her fingers through her hair. To her surprise, Talia rolled her eyes and moaned in irritation.

"I don't like him. He bit you, didn't he? You weren't born one?"

"He bit me when I was, I don't know, thirteen."

"You're kidding? We have one rule! Never harm kids, ever. Ugh." Talia suddenly seemed furious but in a calm way, which to Vanessa was more intimidating than if she had lashed out and thrown a tantrum. "I swear to God, that man has run out of his second chances."

"Sis." Peter nudged her with his elbow, bringing her back to the situation.

"Sorry, sorry. Listen, if he ever hurts you, you can always come to me. Okay?" Talia assured her, to which Vanessa slowly nodded at. "I mean it."

"I believe you." Vanessa smiled and cocked her head to the side. "So... Are all of you werewolves? I can hear a lot of voices."

"Not all of us." Talia shook her head and glanced behind her shoulder. "Some of our family won't have to carry the burden, thankfully."

"Come on, play with me!" Cora seized Vanessa's hand and dragged her to another room. Peter followed leisurely with his hands down his pockets and then leaned himself against the doorframe.

"What do you wanna play?" Vanessa laughed and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed.

"I don't know." Cora shrugged. She then mirrored Vanessa's position before resting an elbow against her leg and keeping his chin against her palm. "Something. People don't usually come over here and I usually hang out with my brother."

"You have a brother? What's his name?" Vanessa asked curiously and pulled some strands of hair behind her ear.

"Ah, David." Peter spoke up from behind them. While Vanessa half turned around to look at him, Cora frowned deeply. When the bigger girl then turned her focus back to the girl, Cora watched as Peter put his finger against his lips.

"Yeah, David." Cora murmured unsurely, deciding that going with Peter's lie was better than pissing him off. "He's about your age, really funny and nice. He always plays with me but lately he's been busy. Dunno why."

"Good thing I'm here them. And that I also happen to have a card game in my pocket." Vanessa smirked and pulled out the game 'Uno' from her back pocket.

"You carry that with you to school?" Peter frowned with a weak, entertained smile.

"I carry it with me everywhere. You never know when you need to have something fun to play." Vanessa shrugged shamelessly.

"You're so weird sometimes." Peter commented. Vanessa opened her mouth to reply but sighed quietly and looked down instead. Surely it was things like this that made it so hard for her to make friends. "Oh no, I don't mean that in a bad way! Vanessa, I love that you're different like this."

"You used the term weird." Vanessa muttered and started mixing the cards. Cora glared at Peter.

"I appreciate that you brought cards with you. I think it's great and thoughtful and smart." Cora said, earning a genuine smile from her new friend.

"Paint me as a villain then." Peter sighed and sat down beside Vanessa. "Sorry, I used the wrong word. You're not weird."

"Whatever. Do you wanna play with us?" Vanessa shook it off and turned her head to look at him. Peter gazed at her for a momemt before he carefully kissed her to apologize once more.

"Gross." Cora scrunched her nose up and rolled her eyes. Vanessa suppressed a grin and leaned her forehead against Peter's.

"Yeah, I wanna play." Peter said so that she could finally deal the cards to them.

For the rest of that day, Vanessa spent her time with Peter and his family. She met a lot of the family members, but hung out mostly with Cora, Peter and Laura. She wanted to meet this David as well but he never got there before she had to leave. For a while, she discussed with Talia, telling her about when she first turned and how her life had been ever since. Talia was an amazing listener and she seemed sincerely interested and concerned. Laura was a bit closed but after some time, she and Vanessa communicated as if they had been best friends forever. Cora reminded her so much of Scott that it was impossible not to like her.

Peter reminded Vanessa of the time just before it got dark and walked her back home. He entertained her with his talking topics and Vanessa kept listening with a smile on her face. It didn't occur to her until they reached her door that she hadn't thought about Derek once since Peter brought her to his family. She was too busy playing cards and dancing around with Cora to even think about him.

"Hey..." Vanessa said as they stopped outside her house and folded her arms together. She looked up at him with her bottom lip inside her mouth before shrugging lightly. "Thanks."

"For what?" Peter frowned and parted his lips.

"When you said that your family would cheer me up, you were right. So thanks for that. They did." She thanked him and looked down for a second.

"I just want you to be happy, Mccall." He shrugged, trying to act careless even when she could see through that tough facade.

"I know. I am happy. So I'll see you at school?" She raised her eyebrows a little and barely swayed her upper body from side to side.

"Yeah."

They locked eyes for a moment before Peter gently grabbed her jacked and pulled her closer. Vanessa smirked as their lips collided and brought a hand up to the back of his neck. She then closed her eyes and felt his other hand rest against her lower back. They stood like that for a while until she remembered that her dad was inside the house, probably waiting for her to come home.

"See you at school." Vanessa chuckled before she walked backwards and then turned around, opened the door and entered her house.

"Vanessa?" Her dad called from the kitchen to make sure it was her.

"Sorry, I was out with a friend." She called back and waved at Peter through the window. He winked at her and turned around to leave. If only she had just never allowed him to get so close to her.


	9. paige

A few weeks passed where everything was basically the same every day. Vanessa would go to school, barely speak to Derek, have lunch with Peter and then go home and study or spend time with Zaina. One day, she was standing by her locker and about to leave when she accidentally backed a step and bumped into someone.

"Shit, I'm sorry." Vanessa quickly apologized and turned around. She knelt down to help pick up what the girl had dropped when she saw who it was.

"No, it's okay." Paige lightly laughed and waved it off. Vanessa forced herself to smile and helped her stand up properly again. "I should've looked up from the floor."

"Oh no, I shouldn't just have backed like that."

"I'm Paige, by the way." Paige smiled and hugged her books against her chest. She was so small and had such an innocent and cute face.

"I'm Vanessa." The hispanic one replied with a weak smile. A sincere one this time.

"Oh, Vanessa Mccall?" Paige asked and raised her eyebrows. "Derek's friend, right? He's told me about you and I've wanted to meet you for so long. He says you're his best friend."

"You have?" Vanessa questioned and the two started walking down the hall slowly.

"Yeah, of course. I thought it was so weird that you two were never together because if you're best friends, you usually hang out all the time. Though I've seen you with some other guy, so that might explain it. Is he your boyfriend?" Paige rambled on, earning a wide grin from the other girl.

"Are you always this talkative? I thought you were quiet and often to yourself."

"Likewise."

"Touché." Vanessa nodded slowly in defeat, biting her lip to prevent herself from smiling like a fool. She hated that she liked Paige, as jealous and ridiculous as that sounds. "I don't know, it's kind of hard for me to make friends. Don't know why."

"Same, although I like being alone sometimes. People can be really..."

"Mean?" Vanessa suggested with a sloppy shrug.

"And annoying. And close-minded."

"And just plain rude."

Paige chuckled and stopped outside a classroom, turning so that she could face her. Vanessa hugged her books and offered Paige a soft smile. Never did she think that she'd connect with Paige, ironically over how lonely they were, and here they were, smiling at each other and talking like old friends. She could definitely see what Derek liked about Paige; deep down the girl had fire and she was interesting.

"That guy you asked about, he's not technically my boyfriend. It's a complicated story but he helped me when I needed it and it didn't bother me much that I spent time with him because Derek was spending time with you." Vanessa explained vaguely.

"Wait, Derek never told you he and I were together?" Paige frowned.

"Nope." Vanessa admitted and switched her body weight from one foot to another. "I saw you in the bands room. Stung a little, but..."

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I thought he told you. Especially since he told me that you're the only person he's ever told everything to. According to him, you're the only one who he completely trusts. Aside from his mom maybe."

"I'm sure he trusts you too." Vanessa tried to ease up the mood and Paige smiled while shrugging.

"We haven't known each for that long yet. Plus, I know there's something about his life that he's hiding but I'm also sure he'll tell me once he feels comfortable enough."

"How are you so mature?" Vanessa grinned as she weakly shook her head. Paige mockingly flicked her hair before she laughed and entered the classroom.

With a stupid smile, Vanessa turned around and attended her own classes for the rest of the day. Of course something nagged at her the entire time and she hated it. During the day, she spent a lot of time with Peter as well considering they had many classes together and then lunch. She could see Derek and Paige sometimes and it was as if though no one else but Paige was present to Derek. As the school day ended, she was ready to leave when Peter seized her hand and pulled her aside.

"What's going on?" He asked with a concerned expression on his face.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know I know when you're lying." He stated the cold truth, making her sigh and cross her arms together. She looked away and blinked a few times.

"I met Paige." She finally murmured and gazed back at him.

"Oh."

"And the thing is... I don't even hate her." Vanessa admitted, feeling her eyes getting wetter. Peter noticed that and suggested they'd go somewhere else. That somewhere else ended up being her house since her dad worked late and wouldn't come home early.

"It makes you sad that you don't hate her?" Peter questioned hesitantly as she paced back and forth in her room.

"No, not sad." She shook her head and then leaned it back carefully. "When I get angry, I cry. Angry tears. Don't know why and I hate it, but I'm not sad."

"Then why are you angry?" He asked and sat down on the edge of her bed, carefully examining her room.

"Because I don't hate her, Peter! She's so nice and funny and I totally get what Derek sees in her! Gods, I'd probably date her. I'm angry at myself for unjustly hating her when I had no reason to other than being jealous! I'm so angry for being such a shallow moron. Gods, why am I like this." Vanessa ranted and placed her hand against her mouth.

"Come here." Peter laughed a little, but not to ridicule her, and patted on the empty space beside him. She waited a few seconds before placing herself on that spot, looking at him with glossy eyes. "Don't beat yourself up over this. It was only natural for you to dislike her."

"But it wasn't right of me. It was such a bitch move." She muttered and wiped her cheeks.

"Maybe not. At least you got to talk to her and realize that it was a bitch move."

"Hey." She frowned and then snorted.

"What? You said it." He shrugged innocently.

Vanessa sighed and as she rested her elbows against her own lap, she buried her face against her palms. Peter tucked some of her hair behind her ear and waited for her to look at him before he softly smiled. She quirked one eyebrow with a weak smirk and decided to give in and kiss him.

It wasn't an eager or all too passionate kiss this time. She had carefully just leaned closer until her lips were against his and then let them stay like that for a moment. He kept his hand against the side of her neck and closed his eyes, giving her the control this time. It was evident she needed comfort at the moment.

"Thanks." She murmured, seizing his free hand in hers and intertwining their fingers together.

"For what?" He asked with a frown. She barely shrugged and looked down for a moment.

"For being there for me. For always creepily being near me when I need some company." She smiled up at him and watched him laugh quietly, making her smile evolve into a grin instead.

"Come here, beautiful."

Peter gently pulled her closer so that he could kiss her again and Vanessa straightened her back a bit. She felt him deepen the kiss after a while and that caused some energy to flow through her body. Soon his hands were tangled in her hair and she slowly straddled him. Surprising her, he kissed her down to her neck instead and traced his hands down to the hem of her shirt. He didn't do anything though, just kept them there and waited for her to say or do something.

"For real?" She asked in a whisper almost and bit on her bottom lip.

"If you want to." He said severely, watching as her chest rose up and down from the surprise and unexpected intimacy.

"Yeah." She nodded and, by steering his hands, pulled her shirt off. However, how cliché as it is, the front door opened and closed. Vanessa gaped out of surprise before she came to her senses and started acting.

"Is it your dad?" Peter whispered, but she simply shushed him and led him toward the window. He really didn't have a say in it, so he just read her face and jumped out the window while she put her shirt back on. Shortly after, when she had naturally placed herself on her bed, Jacques knocked on the door and opened it slowly.

"Sweetie?" He greeted her, making her look up from her fingernails with a smile.

"Hey. You're home early." She lightly frowned and crossed her legs.

"Yeah, a calm day at work. Why do you seem so... Edgy?" He chuckled and scanned her quickly.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She shrugged innocently before standing up. "How about we take advantage of your extra time at home and watch some Friends? I'm feeling really lazy today."

"Sounds like a great plan. I'll go make us some juices." He grinned while leaving her room to enter the kitchen.

Vanessa took a discreet breathe of relief and jogged to the living room where she put the TV on and inserted the CD into the DVD. She planted her butt on the couch corner and sunk down into a comfortable position. Jacques soon joined her and handed her one of the juices.

The two of them practically spent all week doing just that: watching Friends and drinking healthy juices. Vanessa intentionally avoided both Peter and Derek. Derek was busy with Paige anyway but Peter had noticed that he barely saw his friend anymore. The only person she did speak to was Paige, surprisingly. And occasionally Zaina after cheer practice. Paige was just so easy to communicate with — at least for Vanessa.

"I think I'm gonna take a walk." Vanessa said one evening, standing up from the couch. "I need to get out of the house."

"You want company?" Jacques asked and placed his arm on the top of the couch.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll try to be home soon." She waved him off.

"Alright, be careful. Please."

Vanessa then walked to her room to get dressed properly considering she was only wearing sweatpants and a tank top. She changed to black tights with an oversized hoodie instead. Shortly after, she was out the door and walking aimlessly around Beacon Hills. The fresh air felt good and especially since it was colder than during the day. Beacon Hills felt so small when she roamed it at night like this, but maybe she was just walking fast without thinking about it.

At one point, she reached the high school where she expected it to be eerily silent and dark. To her surprise, she could hear voices from inside. At first she smiled curiously, thinking someone had broken in for some reason. Then the familiar growl of a werewolf echoed in the night and a girl screaming. That's when she her heart clenched and her panic started to build. She simply had to do something.

As Vanessa found a way to enter the school, one arm grabbed her around the stomach and a hand was pushed against her mouth. Her first instinct was to scream, but then Peter whispered that it was him and begged her to be quiet and calm. She reluctantly exhaled in defeat and looked back at him, his light eyes staring into her dark ones.

"What the hell?!" She whisper-yelled and frowned when he backed her up against the wall, a finger against her lips as if to shush her.

"Why are you here?" He asked and finally directed his focus on her.

"Why are you here?" She retorted and crossed her arms together.

"You need to leave, Vanessa. Please." He pleaded and glanced to the side. She tried to look at what he was checking, but she saw nothing. Until she noticed the drops of blood on the floor. "I'm serious. I can explain later but please leave."

"No." She said, using her most determined and severe voice. It nearly sent chills down Peter's spine because the way she said it indicated that she wasn't going to leave. There was no use in trying to convince her to go. Her face was so amazingly scary that he didn't even dare to defy her. She took the expression 'standing your ground' to an entire new level. "What is going on?"

"Derek!" The girl screamed and that's when she realized it was Paige. That caused her to try and push her way out of Peter's grip, but he held her back.

"I'm serious, Peter, let me go!"

"You can't help her!" Peter stated, calming her down. She could even feel her eyes getting wetter. "You can't... Help her. I'm sorry."

"No, you're not." She read his face, a shocked and slightly disgusted expression on her face. "Oh my gods, you're not even sorry. What's happening to her?"

When Peter didn't reply, Vanessa used all her strength to push him away, taking advantage of her anger. He landed against the other wall, giving her time to jog down the hallway and stop when she saw the scene a few meters away from her.

Paige was lying on the floor, a hand against a giant wound — a bite wound. Derek was pinned against the floor as well by an older werewolf, evidently an alpha. Peter was right: Vanessa couldn't help them because Paige had already been bitten. Placing a hand against her mouth in shock, Vanessa could feel Peter embracing her while at the same time trying to hide her more behind the lockers. She didn't bother pushing him away. Everything was too confusing at the moment.

"If you're gonna follow us, be quiet and careful." He merely said before leaving her again.

Vanessa watched as Derek picked Paige up and started to leave the school. Peter joined him and Vanessa waited a moment before she too followed them silently. Derek carried Paige through the woods and down to a cellar with a large tree stump. Derek sat down with Paige in his arms and Vanessa didn't enter the cellar. Peter did though.

"What's happening to her?" Derek choked out, probably looking at Peter. Then it hit her: they knew each other.

"Son of a bitch..." Vanessa muttered to herself. Then Paige whimpered in pain and she remembered what was actually happening to her.

Listening to it was torture. Paige being in such pain and Derek crying. Then Paige said she always knew Derek was a werewolf and that made Vanessa wince. Derek was a werewolf? She thought back to the time they kissed and something felt odd. Maybe that was what she had felt, the werewolf part. The fact that he was a werewolf was surprising in itself but the fact that he hadn't shared this with her made her sad. Then she remembered that she hadn't told him she was a werewolf either. How she couldn't have noticed though, that was the real question.

"And you still liked me?" Derek asked.

"I loved you." Paige cried in pain. Vanessa closed her eyes as a tear fell down her cheek. This was so unfair in so many ways, to both Derek and Paige.

Then came the sound that Vanessa would never forget; Derek snapping Paige's neck to spare her from the agony. Peter exited the cellar carrying the dead body a moment later, giving Vanessa a look. She had cried more than she realized because both her cheeks were wet now and her eyes were stinging. Gathering her courage, she slowly entered the cellar and fixed her gaze on her friend crying.

"Derek?"

"Nessa?" He sniffed and wiped his cheek.

"Hey." She quickly got to her knees in front of him, placing a hand on his cheek. "I'm so sorry."

"It's my fault... If I hadn't listened to Peter..." He murmured, closing his eyes. "I'm not a monster, Nessa, I promise."

"Hey, I believe you. I know you're not a monster." She shushed him and decided to try and comfort him in a different way. "We're not monsters just because we have a monstrous form."

"What?" He asked and frowned at her. Vanessa closed her eyes, took a breath and showed him her yellow ones. "You're... What? How? When?"

"She'll explain later." A third, female voice joined them. Vanessa whipped her head just to lay eyes on Talia, Peter's sister. She approached Derek who had now closed his eyes and was looking uncomfortable. She lifted his chin up and smiled softly.

"I've done something terrible, mom." He admitted instantly.

"Mom?" Vanessa whispered and slowly gaped.

"I know." Was all Talia said.

"My eyes... They're different."

"Different, but still beautiful. Just like the rest of you." She assured him, being a good mother. After a few seconds, Derek opened his eyes and revealed his new, blue ones. Talia and Derek then hugged before she left them, knowing they had a lot to talk about.

Vanessa stayed there with Derek until he felt ready to leave. She brought him home to her, sneaking their way into her room. Just to make sure her dad wouldn't walk into her room, she told her dad that she'd just come home and gone to bed. She also brought Derek some water with her and closed her door.

"I can't believe we were both werewolves without knowing it." Vanessa sighed and sat down beside him on the bed.

"How long have you been one?" He asked quietly and drank some water.

"A year. More or less." She shrugged and scratched her upper arm. "You?"

"Oh... I was born a werewolf, actually. Been one my whole life." He answered, making her barely widen her eyes. "It's weird that I couldn't smell it on you though. Should've been obvious."

"Wow. That's fifteen years." She realized, shaking her head in disbelief. "I've just learned how to control myself on a full moon."

"To be honest, I still have a hard time doing that." He confessed, being a bit ashamed about that.

"For real?"

"For real." He chuckled over her expression. "How did you know where we were?"

"I was just talking a walk when I heard... Screaming." She sighed and watched his shoulders sink a little. "Sorry."

"I just can't believe she's gone."

Vanessa could see that he was about to break down now because it was starting to get registered in his mind. Before anything else happened, she softly pulled him closer and into an embrace, where his head rested against her chest and her hand was stroking his cheek. That's when Derek decided to cry it all out and let her comfort him for a very long time.

This was their most intimiate moment so far. They've never needed to comfort each other before and definitely not like this. Now they knew each other's biggest secrets and both could feel how much stronger their bond grew the longer Vanessa let him mourn in her arms. Of course she didn't mention Peter and she promised herself to never do so either. However, he was not gonna walk out of this easily.


	10. family issues

"There you are, I was so worr–" Peter began, but was cut off by Vanessa raising her hand and slapping him across his cheek. Her hand left a red mark and Peter seemed to actually get hurt by the slap. "Vanessa, I can ex–" Cut off again by another hit.

"You're disgusting. Absolutely disgusting." She spat angrily and crossed her arms. "I can't believe you made me tell you about my feelings for Derek and then pretend like you didn't even know him, when in fact, you're his uncle! That's so gross."

"I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this. Besides, I don't see what the big deal is." He replied, ending with a light shrug.

"The big deal is that you lied to me! And that you're Derek's uncle, which is disgusting. You're obviously older than us but it doesn't show because you were born a werewolf, like Derek. And he told me you convinced him to turn Paige, which means you killed Paige." She took a few steps away from him.

"Babe, come on–"

"No, no, no, no, no, no." She laughed quickly, waving a finger at him in disapproval. "You don't get to 'babe' me, okay, I'm not your babe. We were never a thing and we never will be. You ruined it."

Vanessa walked past him to leave, but Peter grabbed her wrist and forced her to look at him. Glaring at him, she expected a different expression on his face. Instead of seeming apologetic or soft, he looked at her with frustration. It made her a bit nervous but she was always good at hiding her emotions.

"Just give me a chance, okay. Don't you realize what a power duo we could be?" He proposed, making her barely narrow her eyes. It wasn't hard to detect how much he wanted them to be powerful more than a couple.

"What are you talking about? We will never be a thing, Peter. And this power talking? I think I'm finally starting to see you for who you really are." She jerked her arm away from his grip and shook her head. "You've always been jealous of your sister because she's an alpha. Don't think I haven't noticed it. I don't know why, but you're so thirsty for power and that scares me. Don't talk to me again."

With that, Vanessa turned around and quickly left him on the street. The reason she was out of the house was because she was going to the local supermarket to buy some donuts and most likely ice cream. Not for herself only, but for her and Derek. He had asked to stay at her place after Paige's death, mostly because he didn't want to be near Peter or his family — they reminded him of the incident too much — and because he wanted Vanessa's company.

Once she had bought some donuts, ice cream and something healthy to drink to compensate for the unhealthy snacks, Vanessa went back home and put the things where they belonged, except for the donuts in the bag. She jumped down on the couch beside Derek and handed him the bag with a sweet smile.

"Thanks, you're the best." He smiled back and started eating his donut instantly. Lightly chuckling, she ate hers and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Vanessa told her dad about Paige and Derek because she promised to not lie again, and it was the only way for him to let the two teenagers stay home from school. He had no problem with Derek practically living there either, but she didn't complain about that. During these days, the two had finally started watching Friends, just so that Derek could finally understand what Vanessa meant by saying that she's a soft version of Monica. They were currently at season two.

"So who's your favorite character?" She asked once she had eaten her donut, looking up at him.

"Joey. Definitely Joey." He answered while nodding to himself. "You?"

"It's either Joey or Rachel. I feel like Monica is extremely underappreciated because she's awesome for so many reasons, but I like Joey and Rachel more." She shared, intertwining her hands together against her stomach.

"I think Monica and Chandler would be an awesome couple." He thought out loud, making her frown up at him. "I mean, they're like best friends and they just have this great dynamic. They already cuddle all the time so them being in a romantic relationship would be so natural and cool."

"Oh my gods." Vanessa muttered to herself, barely audible, as she got up from the couch and tossed the empty bag in the kitchen trash. She closed her eyes and drowned that annoyance inside her, but Derek had heard her and noticed her change of mood.

"What? What'd I say?" He asked and straightened his back so he could get a better look at her. "Nessa."

"Nothing." She lied as she shrugged sloppily. "What do you wanna eat today? I'm thinking pasta or something like tha–"

"Vanessa." Derek said sternly. Suddenly he was right behind her, making her swallow a lump in her throat. He rarely used her full name and when she turned around to face him, she could barely keep her sassy expression solid. "What is it?"

There was so much she wanted to say, so many emotions just wanted to shoot out of her through words but she couldn't. It would've been selfish and mean, especially considering he had just recently lost someone he loved. Paige deserved better than having Vanessa pour her feelings out to Derek so soon. And even if she did, it'd just damage their friendship even more. She just had to accept that Derek would never feel for her the way he felt for Paige.

"I'm serious, it's nothing. I don't know why I said that." She lied again, placing a hand against the counter as support. Derek gazed at her neutrally but she could barely stand it. "Can you please move? You know I don't exactly like too much unnecessary physical contact."

"Fine." He sighed and backed away. "I don't believe you, but fine."

"So what kind of pasta do you want?" She asked and scratched her arm.

Derek answered her question and then watched as she cooked the food for the three of them. He always watched her when she was making dinner, mostly to try and learn himself, and he kept doing it months later. Yes, Derek stayed there for months and Vanessa didn't want him out anyway. Occasionally, Scott and Stiles would visit and hang out with them and Peter often tried to get Vanessa's attention without exposing himself to his nephew.

One day, when the two friends were at their best, Vanessa had initiated a silly pillow fight on the couch. Basically it was just the two of them slouching on the couch while hitting each other with a pillow. It seemed like Derek had finally recovered completely from losing Paige and there was no depression lingering around him anymore. Eventually a year had passed, and then another six months. After this year and a half, Derek had moved back home but he was still spending six days a week at her place.

"Okay, okay, are we twelve?" Derek chuckled and put his pillow down beside him.

"Uh, we might be seventeen now but we're still kids." She raised her eyebrows and hit him one last time with her pillow.

Looking at him, Vanessa realized just how much they had grown and been through. Derek's features were growing sharper, more mature and his body wasn't as slinky and thin anymore. He had also gotten a weird spark in his eyes. She assumed it was happiness. They were about to finish high school and that thought brought her mind back to their first day at high school.

"What?" He asked with a soft smile. "What are you thinking about?"

"Everything. Us. The fact that we're almost eighteen now." She shrugged and remembered all the times these months that they had wolf races in the woods before admiring the view from the edge of it.

"It's crazy how time flies."

"Now imagine being a dad." Jacques entered the room and kissed Vanessa on top of the head. "I can't believe you've grown this much. Feels like yesterday when Vanessa was walking in diapers. And it feels like yesterday when you first came over and finally introduced yourself."

Derek laughed and nudged Vanessa's shoulder with his own. Jacques ruffled her hair before leaving them alone again. She leaned her head back, turned it to look at her friend and started fiddling with her ear.

"I don't say this often, but I really care about you, Derek. And I'm so glad you decided to seek harbor here. I've never once been bored." She admitted. At first he grinned, then he imitated her ear-fiddling and chuckled quietly.

"What's this?" He teased, earning a weak slap on his hand from her.

"It's my new action that says I care about you." She made up on the spot, shrugging.

"Ear fiddling? I kinda like it. It's official. I care about you too, Nessa." He frowned with his lips in approval and then did the ear thing.

"Don't be an ass, Hale."

"I mean it! And this thing is now legit. If we don't have time to vocally say it or are incapable of, we do the ear thing." He decided, making her grow a half smile, half smirk.

"Alright. It's officially our thing. We have a thing." She agreed on the decision, pouting the slightest with her lips.

"I have something I'd like to tell you. Actually, there's someone I want you to meet." He proclaimed timidly, making her frown a bit.

Vanessa hesitated but nodded. After changing her clothes to something more decent, she followed Derek out the house and toward the town. Part of her didn't want to meet this person because it could be anyone. He didn't even mention if it was a boy or girl, but with her luck it'd probably be the latter. How cruel wouldn't that be?

Derek held the door of the ice cream shop open to her and the last person she'd ever want to see stood by the counter with an ugly smile. Vanessa nearly stopped dead in her tracks while Derek approached the girl and greeted her.

"Aren't you gonna introduce me?" She smirked and quirked one eyebrow.

"Sorry. Nessa, this is Kate Argent." Derek introduced her and sent his friend a sheepish smile. "We're sort of dating, I think. We met a while ago."

Vanessa felt like a cornered, weak animal as she stood and stared at Kate. Even if they were in a public place with a lot of people around them, she was still afraid that the huntress would grab a knife and stab her right then and there. Especially since she had escaped with the help of Kate's brother.

"I, uh... I–I need to leave. Sorry." She couldn't form any better sentence than that. Vanessa hurried out the shop and was ready to dash away from there when Kate followed her and took a hold of her wrist.

"That was rude." Kate pouted, feigning hurt. Vanessa kept glaring at her as she tried to put on her most intimidating expression. The dirty blonde one merely laughed. "I don't know how you escaped, sweetie, but I promise that if you even hint to Derek who I am... I'll personally hunt you down and cut your body in half. Slowly."

"One day, you're gonna get yours and I pray that I'll be there to watch you get what you deserve." Vanessa spat before jerking her arm free and walking away from there.

When Kate was out of sight, Vanessa started running back home where she was met by her dad. She must've had a really distressed look on her face since he quickly seized her arms and examined her expression with concern.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong? What happened?" Jacques asked softly, helping her calm herself down. He then guided her to the couch where the two sat down and she inhaled deeply.

"Remember when I was kidnapped by those hunters? And there was an old man, a younger man and his little sister?" She asked quietly and he nodded in response. "Well... Apparently Derek's dating that little sister."

"What?!" He exclaimed and widened his eyes. "Does she know he's a werewolf?"

"She has to! Why else would she date him?" Vanessa scoffed and made an obvious face until she noticed her dad raising his eyebrows at her. "I didn't mean it like that. Derek's a catch, but why him? She doesn't even go to our school. How did she find him? She must know." She explained further. "Should I tell him?"

"Would you want to know?" He retorted. After thinking for a brief moment, she nodded and shrugged sloppily. "Then tell him."

"He'll hate me and he won't even believe me at first." She whined and rested her forehead against her kneecap.

"Have you ever lied to him?" Jacques asked and she slowly looked back up at him.

"No."

"Then you don't have anything to worry about. Tell him. This isn't some normal teenage drama thing. This is his life and if you don't tell him, he could be in serious danger." He reminded her.

"What if Kate sends her family on us? Or him? Trust me, they're really scary. And rude." She grimaced by the end, which only made him deadpan her with slightly raised eyebrows. "I'm serious."

"What if she sends them on you anyway? It's worth the risk if it means you can spare Derek from trouble. Don't you agree?" He retorted, making her look down and fiddle with a pillow.

After a few more minutes of discussion, Vanessa decided to call Derek and tell him to meet her at the Beacon Hills preserve, the forest just outside of the town. She put a hoodie on in case it'd get cold and walked hastily toward the location. Derek was already there, leaning against the tree where he had kissed her.

"Prick." She muttered to herself because of the memory and approached him. He smiled happily and straightened his back.

"What's up?" He asked and frowned once he noticed her severe expression. No part of her wanted to talk about Kate with him: her stomach literally felt like it was knotting itself as she tried to form the words to say to him.

"I need to tell you something and you're gonna hate it." She said bluntly, watching him fold his arms together. "It's about Kate."

"What about her?"

"She–" She started but needed to inhale deeply when she saw his concerned face. "She's not a good person, Hale. Remember when I disappeared for a few days because I was kidnapped by hunters? She's one of them."

Silence. Derek gazed at her, trying to detect if this was some sick joke whilst Vanessa swallowed a lump in her throat and prepared for his outburst of denial. However, he remained calm and quiet which quite frankly freaked her out even more. Then he shook his head and made a funny face.

"This is a prank, right? Because it can't be true." He chuckled and she sighed.

"Derek..."

"No, seriously. What kind of messed up thing is that to say? There's no way she's one of those who kidnapped you. You probably didn't see the person clearly and Kate just resembles her. She's just a teenager, why would she hunt werewolves?" He rambled, and she opened her mouth to interrupt him but he continued talking. "I've known her for some time now and there's no way she's a cold-hearted hunter, all right. You've met her once for like, ten seconds."

"Derek!" She raised her voice to make him realize how serious she was. She was very well aware of how much she could intimidate him as well. "I'm trying to be your friend here. She's bad news, Hale. She's dangerous and cold-hearted and I need you to trust me because I don't want her to hurt you."

"You know what I think?" He said with an empty voice. She shook her head slowly, hoping he wouldn't say what she feared he'd slip out. "I think you're just lying because you're jealous, Nessa. And that's really ugly of you."

Suddenly, the air became ten times colder than before. Her chest grew heavier and soon her eyes stung and her vision was blurry because she felt so angry that she could cry. Vanessa stared at him in disbelief, but only for a split second because he didn't waste any time standing there anymore. Within a second, he had wolf sped himself away from the scene, leaving her fueled with anger. Unable to even hold it in any longer, she clenched her hands and let out a scream of frustration.

The scream didn't last for long though considering someone too familiar placed a hand against her mouth and dragged her behind a tree, falling down on the ground and pulling her down with him. Vanessa made a sound of more fury but it was muffled because Peter kept pressing his hand against her mouth and shushing her.

"God, are you trying to get yourself killed? Didn't you hear them?" He whisper-yelled and slowly removed his hand. It was only then that she noticed how the moon was rising and twigs were getting stepped on in the distance.

"I don't want to talk to you." She crossed her arms together and looked at him with a weary expression. "I hate you, remember?"

"Oh yeah, you hate me." He rolled his eyes and finger-quoted the last words in the air. "Just listen, okay. You have to be more careful. Ever since you escaped the Argents, it's like they extended their group by a hundred. And they're patrolling the forest more regularly."

"How did you even know I was here?"

"Like you always say, I'm a stalker." He partly joked, earning a sloppy eye roll from her and a head shaking. "That was a weak reaction from you."

"It's really rude to invade someone's privacy the way you do. Do I even need to ask if you heard Derek and I talking?" She sighed and pulled both hands through her hair.

"I'm sorry about what he said." Peter admitted, surprising her by looking genuinely sad. "Seriously, not fair of him. And obviously it's not jealousy. That kid is so dumb. All Kate had to do was bat her eyelashes and he was wrapped around her wolf-killing finger."

"Right, you're older than us..." She mumbled, reacting to the way he called Derek a kid. This would take a lot of time to get used to. "So soon after Paige?"

"I think it's some weird way of him to cope and finally and completely move on from Paige. A stupid way to do so, but that's what I think. He's so delusional right now because he wants to believe Kate's good. Plus it's been a year and a half." He suggested, shrugging a little. "You deserve be–"

"Don't." She cut him off and turned her head to look at him. "Spare me the cliché bullshit. This isn't even about me. This is about Derek being in danger and not realizing it."

"I think they're gone." Peter proclaimed, referring to the hunters. "You're right. He's my nephew, after all, and I do care about him. How do we get Kate out of the picture?"

"Oh no, we're not teaming up." She laughed humorlessly while standing up and dusting some leeves off of her. "I still hate you."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

"Peter."

"One last thing together." He wryly smiled. She folded her arms together and looked to the side. "Look, I'm sorry I lied. Vanessa, you're like the only person I've ever truly cared about and I'm not lying this time. In case you haven't noticed, I don't bother with other people. But I do with you, and I just want to spend some time with you again. So please, let's at least get rid of Kate together and then I'll leave you alone. I swear."

Vanessa heavily turned her gaze and focus to him. Peter had a very sincere expression on his face which was a change from his naturally cocky and self-confident one. She contemplated his offer and hated herself for it. If anything, she should've just left him there. But she didn't. And she found herself exhale deeply in agreement and watch him approach her cautiously.

"If you have any hidden agenda or any way to manipulate me–"

"I don't." He assured her and made her unfold her arms by seizing her elbows and then moving his hands down to her to her wrists. "And I thought you were the manipulative one of us?"

"No, that's just who you think I could be. Big difference." She pointed out, being the reason why he smiled softly at her. "I'm not doing this all again. We expose Kate and that's it." She negotiated, gently pushing his hands away from her.

"No strings attatched." He agreed, sliding his hands down his pockets.

Vanessa nodded, more to herself, and tried to ignore all her thoughts. Although having him alone in the forest in front of him was hugely distracting. After all the bad things that had happened, she missed that carelessness and rush that Peter brought with him. Maybe missing all that was the reason that led her to sigh over herself before she pulled him closer by the collar of his shirt and pressed her lips against his.

This time, she promised herself that this was the last time she'd let Peter close again. For now, she just needed to get away from reality.


	11. fire

No one was prepared for it to happen or even expected it. Except for maybe Vanessa. It happened late at night when the darkness had taken over and everyone was tired. It was a strange group that was responsible for it as well. The fire stole seven lives that day. In the official reports, it's stated that eight of the Hale family members died, which means that only three remained alive. Derek, Peter and Laura. The fact that a fourth member survived was a secret that only Vanessa and her father knew off.

Ever since Derek claimed she was just jealous of him and Kate, Vanessa had ignored him. Not highkey ignoring him where it's obvious and childish, but just not bothering greeting him. Or looking at him. This also applied to Peter. She had Zaina and the rest of the cheerleading team to hang out with. She even told Zaina about their fight, leaving out the parts where Kate was a dangerous werewolf hunter.

"What a _sharmuta_." Zaina muttered once she was done explaining. Vanessa lightly raised her eyebrows in amusement and chuckled, since she knew exactly what that word meant — it was Zaina's favorite curse word in arabic.

"Yeah. I just don't get where that comment came from, we've never been those people, you know. What's there to be jealous of? I don't want to be with him in that way and believe me, this Kate girl is nothing to even be slightly jealous of. She's got an ugly personality." Vanessa ranted, putting a french fry in her mouth. They were currently eating in a pizza place because Vanessa felt like she needed to hang out with someone more human and normal. Being all alone was driving her crazy.

"I believe you. I know what you and Derek are like and it was so immature of him to say that." Zaina agreed, sending her friend a reassuring smile. "And just so you know, I know a lot of guys who are interested."

"Who says I'm interested in guys?" Vanessa asked, holding a strong pokerface. Zaina nearly choked on her food.

"I just assumed, oh my–"

"Zee, breathe." Vanessa laughed and shook her head weakly. "I'm kidding. I think. It's not like I've focused enough on romance to know. Women are sexy as hell too."

"Indeed they are." Zaina raised her glass with soda and they carefully toasted their glasses against each other to beautiful women out there. "All jokes aside, why haven't you focused on romance? I mean, you're not the type to spend all your time studying, and even if you're busy as hell with hobbies, half the world's population consist of guys. You can't not meet one."

Vanessa's smile died slowly as she was asked that question. She looked down at her lap and contemplated telling her friend. Sure, she had only known Zaina for about a year and a half, but they were close — even if they didn't hang out all the time. She trusted her. But she just couldn't. It'd put Zaina in too much trouble, if her friend would even believe her. Vanessa wouldn't believe anyone unless she wasn't a werewolf herself.

"I don't know. I just... Have other priorities. Yeah, I've met a lot of guys but I don't get too deep. I'm also a bit weird. For some reason, I'm hard to connect with."

"Not that hard, we're friends, aren't we?" Zaina smiled and nudged Vanessa's leg with her foot under the table. "Anyone would be lucky to be your friend."

"Oh gods, this is so cheesy." Vanessa snorted and buried her forehead against her palm.

"Which gods this time?" Zaina smirked and tilted her head to the side. She also knew about Vanessa believing in everything or nothing.

"I'm feeling the egyptian ones." Vanessa slowly nodded to herself and grinned.

"My folks." Zaina cheered and leaned back.

"Anyway, there's someone I need to talk to. I'll see you later." Vanessa sighed, not wanting to leave at all. Zaina pouted sadly and batted with her eyelashes, forcing her friend to literally look away to not stay. "I'm sorry, but it's important."

"Ugh, fine. See you later." Zaina said, offering Vanessa a smile so that she wouldn't feel all too bad about leaving.

Vanessa got up, kissed the top of Zaina's head and walked out and toward the forest. For once, Peter didn't have any intention to sneak up on her or anything like that — he was just leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.

"What is it?" She asked and slid her hands down her pockets.

"Is that how you greet people?" Peter smirked. He quickly removed the smirk though when Vanessa deadpanned at him while lightly glaring. "Sorry. Look, I'm worried Kate is about to do something awful."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. I've been following her a little lately and she's been talking with very different people and it looks like they've been doing business. Can you please just try and talk to Derek?"

"No." She shook her head and licked her dry lips. "He won't listen. I haven't talked to him since–"

"I know, but he won't listen to me either. Not since Paige." He sighed as if it wasn't understandable. She scoffed at him.

"And you blame him for not wanting to talk to you? You practically killed Paige, Peter. How have you not accepted that yet?" Too fast for her to realize it, Peter grabbed her by the neck and pushed her against the nearest tree.

"Shut up, shut up!" He snapped and stared at her with his jaw clenched. Vanessa slightly narrowed her eyes at him and put on her toughest expression, her lips barely pressed together. "I. Didn't. Kill. Her."

"Yes, you did." She spat angrily. "You manipulated Derek until he agreed to let you find someone to turn Paige. And then she died. How is that not your fault, Peter? The fact that you're denying it proves that deep down... You're a monster."

"Oh, and what? You're perfect yourself? Try being in my position, with my family and being hunted all the time! Being the brother of this powerful alpha isn't exactly easy." He tried to justify his behavior.

"This has nothing to do with me but while we're on the subject, yeah, I'm a damn saint compared to you. You're evil to the core, Peter. No matter what, you'll always want power. You want people to fear you and you think being this monster is the better choice. And I'm not gonna be naive enough to think that you can change because this is who you are." She shot back and harshly pushed him away from her. "I'll talk to Derek because I care about him, unlike you. You just want to expose Kate so you'll have a reason to kill her."

Before he could even try to get a last word, Vanessa sped away from there and spent the next ten minutes searching for Derek. Instead, she found Kate talking in an alley to an unknown man. Vanessa couldn't risk Kate seeing her, so instead of hiding against the wall, she climbed up to the roof and used her werewolf hearing to listen to them.

"It happens tonight, Reddick. Everything has to work out perfectly or we're busted. Got it?" Kate said coldly while it sounded like she handed him something in an envelope.

"Don't worry, this isn't my first time." Reddick responded.

Vanessa checked the time on her phone while Kate left the alley and then carefully jumped down from the roof. She hurried to the Hale house, figuring that's where Derek most likely would be if he wasn't with Kate. As her fist collided with the door, Talia opened it with a soft smile and stepped aside.

"Are you here to see Peter? Because unfortunately he's not home." She asked and frowned a bit.

"No, uh... I'm actually here to see Derek. Is he home?" She exhaled while she put her hands in her jacket pockets and shifted her body weight from one foot to the other one.

"Derek? You know each other?" Talia asked and folded her arms together. The girl was too distressed to form a proper response. Something bad was definitely happening tonight.

"Long story. Is he he–"

"Vanessa!" Cora's light voice squealed through the hall as she ran over to the hispanic one. Wrapping her arms around her waist, Cora smiled up at her and then backed away timidly. Clearly showing affection was rare to the girl. She reminded Vanessa so much about Scott though, especially considering they were the same age.

"Hey, _pollito._ " Vanessa giggled and ruffled Cora's hair, crouching down so they were the same height.

"You know I don't like that nickname." Cora pouted and then deadpanned at her.

"Aw, but you're such a little, cute chicken, aren't you? It's a cute nickname. There are so many worse spanish nicknames I could give you. Such as pu–"

"Please don't finish that." Derek quickly cut her off and had a hand in the air. "Even I know what that means."

Vanessa couldn't help but to smirk while she got up again. She gazed at him and returned her hands to her pockets. Talia gave Derek a wink before she seized Cora's hand and left the two teenagers alone.

"Look–"

"Nessa, I'm so sorry. What I said was so wrong and so bad and I didn't mean it."

"Derek, I'm not here to talk to you about that. Well, partly." She cocked her head to the side and licked her bottom lip inside her mouth while she thought about what to say next. "I came to warn you. I don't care what you'll say or what you'll think, but you've been my closest friend and I've never lied to you. Never. So trust me when I say that Kate is bad news. She's planning something for tonight and if I were you, I'd stay as far away as possible from her and her hunter family."

Derek stayed silent. She was right. She had never once lied to him or made him question her loyalty to him. They knew everything about each other. Well, except for that whole werewolf thing but it was understandable. He knew every little detail about her because during these two years, they've talked about everything and nothing. He trusted her with his life. But there was however one thing that now bothered him at the moment.

"How... How did you know where I lived? And how do you know Cora?" He asked quietly and motioned behind his shoulder with his thumb.

"I, uh, met your mom once. My alpha isn't exactly the nicest guy so one day I had a breakdown in the woods and your mom was there. She brought me here and let me meet your family for a short while." Vanessa lied, trying to pull off her best, convincing voice. But lying to him created a giant lump in the throat and a sharp pain in her chest. Unfortunately this wouldn't be the last lie to him.

"Oh. Well, Cora seemed to like you. She's not really that affectionate with anyone."

"Yeah..." She whispered and placed her bottom lip between her teeth. "I'll see you around."

"Wait, Nessa." He sighed and took a step closer to her. "I just need to say that I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, _puta._ " She chuckled quietly, nodding a little to get her words through. Derek cracked a grin of relief before he dared to pull her in for a hug. Since they were about the same height, Vanessa's head landed softly against his shoulder and his cheek on top of her head.

"Please don't call me that."

"I can call you whatever I want." She shrugged carelessly while getting out of his grip. "Be careful tonight, please. Kate might be young but she's dangerous."

With that, Vanessa left the house without knowing she'd soon be back. She decided to spend some time with Stiles and Scott since she hadn't seen them in a while. She played cards with them, watched some movies and told them some more stories.

"I want to eat something snacksy." Scott complained and pouted.

"Do not despair, dear cousin." Vanessa smirked and got up from the couch. "I know where your mom hid the cookie jar."

While the boys cheered, she climbed up the counter and reached for the cookie jar in the highest shelf. She carefully jumped down and opened it for them as well, watching as Stiles devoured a few cookies shamelessly. An hour or two later, Stiles' dad arrived to pick his son up.

"Hey, kid." Noah Stilinski smiled to Vanessa. "Thanks for taking care or my son."

"Always a pleasure, sheriff." She smiled back and watched him give her a look.

"I've told you not to call me that."

"I know, but I actually need to talk to you as the sheriff right now." She said and glanced at his badge.

"Go wait in the car." He said to Stiles and the kid reluctantly did as he was told. After complaining a few seconds, of course. Vanessa then sent Scott up to his room. "What is it, sweetie?"

"Does the name Reddick sound familiar?" She asked slowly, crossing her arms together. It took him a moment to think but then he answered.

"Yeah, it actually does. If I remember correctly, he's been suspected for arson. Why, has he contacted you in any way?" He replied and placed a concerned hand on her shoulder.

"No, no, it's... Thanks." She stuttered and turned around. "Scott! I'm going home, okay! Come down and lock the door after Noah leaves!" She yelled and he yelled back that he would. "Sorry, I have to go."

"Wait, Vanessa–" Noah began, but she was already out the door.

Vanessa ran and ran without stopping for a second. Yes, it was irresponsible of her to just leave Scott like that but this was far too important. If Kate really is as psycho as she fears she is... Vanessa didn't even want to imagine it. Unfortunately, the second she reached the area, she could see the flames ascending to the sky. Her heart dropped at the sight and smell and soon it felt like her ears were bleeding because of the piercing screams. Then she saw her.

Without hesitation, Vanessa dashed foward with her wolf face on display and grabbed Kate by the neck with her claws. Kate inhaled sharply out of surprise and then chuckled wickedly. There was no remorse in her eyes and all she did was enjoy watching the house burn.

"Do it. Show me the monster you truly are. Kill me." She whispered mockingly. "I can see it in your eyes, feel how your claws are digging deeper against my skin. You want to kill me. So do it! Prove who you really are!"

"No." Vanessa murmured and blinked, transforming her face back to normal. "I'm not a psychopathic killer like you. You're wrong about us and even if you deserve to die, it won't be by me. But I swear, if you don't leave this town I will hunt you down and torture you before slowly killing you. Don't think my dad didn't teach me a trick or two. Got it? Leave or you'll die."

For the first time, Kate expressed slight fear. Maybe she really wanted to stay alive. So she nodded, gulped and waited until Vanessa let her go and backed away, leaving faint marks on Kate's neck. Vanessa then ran toward the house and searched for anyone she could help. That's when she heard it; someone scraping against the material and weeping quietly, calling for help.

"Please... Help..."

"Cora." Vanessa whispered and quickly ran to the other side of the house. Ignoring the toxic air, she dropped to her knees and lifted a wooden plank that had fallen against Cora's back. "Listen to me, you have to fight. Come on."

"Vanessa?" Cora widened her eyes in relief and crawled her way out. "Oh my god, what's happening? They can't–" The girl had to swallow back a sob. "They can't get out, Vanessa. We have to help them!"

"We can't." It pained her to say it, but she couldn't lie. "I'm so sorry, but their heart beats... Cora, we have to get you out of here. Please."

"No..." Cora shook her head and turned around to watch the building slowly collapse. "No! I can't leave them, they're my family!"

A minor explosion made Vanessa quickly throw her arm around Cora and cover her. The amount of heart beats were quickly getting fewer and the smoke was dangerous for them to inhale for too long. Despite Cora's crying, screaming and squirming, Vanessa grabbed her hand and ran far away from the house until she was sure they were safe for now.

"Cora, listen to me." Vanessa said severely while she stood down on one knee, her hands on the girl's shoulders. "You have to listen to me. You're in shock and angry and I get it, but you need to listen to me and stay calm, alright?"

"But... My mom, my sister..." Cora sniffled, wiping away a tear from her cheek. "Are they dead?"

With a sigh, Vanessa looked down at their feet and pressed her lips together. Her question was so blunt and raw that it forced Vanessa to fully comprehend what had happened. They were actually dead. The house had burned down and suffocated them and Kate was responsible.

"I'm so sorry, _pollito_. Let me take you to my house so you can sit down." She suggested. "We just have to go somewhere."

"Yeah, sure." Cora whispered and weakly shrugged. Vanessa kissed her forehead and then led her toward her home that was still intact and solid. She couldn't even imagine how she felt, but it must've been a hundred times more painful than what she was feeling.

"Thank god, where have you–" Jacques exclaimed as he opened the door. The little girl with torn clothes, wet cheeks and messy hair made him cut himself off. "What happened?"

"Long story, but she's staying over tonight."

"Alright, come in. What's your name, honey?" Jacques asked and directed his words to the girl. Vanessa closed the door and pulled her fingers through her hair.

"Cora." The girl answered blankly.

"Okay. Nice to meet you, Cora. Let's get you cleaned up, shall we? I think Vanessa has some old clothes you can have."

Vanessa followed the orphan to the bathroom and helped her get clean while Jacques dug up some of her old clothes that Cora could change into. Once Vanessa had calmed her down with some food and tea, she and Cora lay down on Vanessa's bed and turned to their sides.

"Everything's gonna get better. Right now you need to sleep and get some rest, okay? Do you think you can fall asleep?" Vanessa asked quietly and caressed her cheek for a short moment.

"Thank you, Vanessa. For being there and helping me. I'll try to sleep."

While Cora struggled to fall asleep, Vanessa's mind drifted off to a million questions. Who else helped Kate set the fire? Did someone else survive? More importantly to Vanessa, how selfish it may be, did Derek survive? Was he even in the house? Sighing, she pushed those thoughts away and tried to come up with a plan on what to do with Cora.

* * *

 **hey guys! sorry it's been so damn long since i updated, my computer crashed two weeks ago and i haven't thought of updating any stories but here's chapter 11! i'll post chapter 12 tomorrow to make up for the long waiting time! don't forget to check out my tumblr ( .com) to see more of vanessa and characters!**


	12. south america

Vanessa woke up to the feeling of Cora moving in her embrace, twisting and turning in panic. Vanessa wiped some hair away from Cora's face and softly shushed her as she woke up with a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Hey, hey, you're safe, you're with me. Look at me." Vanessa whispered and sat up a little bit. Cora breathed rapidly, looking up at the other girl with relief all over her face.

"Sorry I woke you." She apologized and let her head fall down to Vanessa's chest.

"It's fine, honey." Vanessa sighed and stroked the back of Cora's head carefully. "You hungry?"

"Not really." Cora murmured and swallowed a lump in her throat.

"Cora... You have to eat. You've been eating really badly lately and it worries me."

Cora looked up at her and bit on her bottom lip sadly. Vanessa didn't let those puppy eyes convince her this time. She lightly raised her eyebrows and put on a severe face that showed Cora that she was in charge today. Muttering, Cora got up and reluctantly approached the kitchen. Thankfully, Jacques had already prepared for breakfast. Vanessa put on her thin morning robe and followed the little one.

It'd been about two weeks since the fire and Cora still had vivid nightmares. Not that that wasn't understandable. She didn't want to sleep on the couch and Vanessa wouldn't let her either way so the two shared Vanessa's room because Vanessa could always manage to calm her down when it was needed. Cora ate too little as well; she had too many disturbing imagines left from the fire to eat whenever she needed. Sometimes the McCall's had to force her to sit and eat. During these days, the three of them had grown incredibly close. Vanessa played every game she knew with Cora, told her a lot of stories and Jacques even taught the girl some good fighting techniques.

Vanessa hadn't gone to school either. The entire town knew about the fire at this point but whatever they gossiped about, Vanessa had no idea. She didn't care either. Sheriff Stilinski occasionally came over to update her about their leads, but she had no physical proof that it was Kate's fault so she could never tell him. She just hoped Kate had listened and ran out of town like she threatened her to do. She didn't know if anyone else had made it out of the fire. She could've asked, but she was afraid of the answer. She didn't want to hear it if no one had.

"You made french toast? I love those." Cora smiled up at Jacques.

"I know." Jacques winked, making Vanessa weakly smile. It was hard to be happy in the house at the moment, but they had to in order not to go insane.

"Thanks..." Cora trailed off. Vanessa pressed her lips together sadly and joined Cora's side. The girl never knew what to call him. Mr McCall was way too formal. Jacques felt too disrespectful but she couldn't call him dad either. It was a tough situation which he fortunately understood. "Thanks."

"Yeah, of course."

"No... Not just for the french toast." Cora frowned, making them cease their movements and turn their full attention to her. "I mean, thanks for everything. I haven't said it, I just realized, but thanks for saving me and taking me in. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there."

"Don't think like that, _pollito_." Vanessa quickly kissed the top of her head and poured her some juice. "And of course we'd take you in. You're family now."

Without thinking about it for too long, Cora wrapped her arms around Vanessa's neck and hugged her tightly. Vanessa buried her face against her shoulder and smiled while a tear fell down her cheek. Jacques smiled at the scene and grabbed a french toast himself.

"I love you, Vanessa." Cora proclaimed sweetly while they ended the hug.

"Love you too. Now eat." Vanessa chuckled and put her hair up in a ponytail. Cora rolled her eyes, a habit she picked up from Vanessa, and devoured the food.

Once they finished eating breakfast, Cora placed herself on the couch and watched some TV. Vanessa was about to join her when Jacques gently seized her arm and dragged her to another room, closed the door and hoped Cora wouldn't hear.

"There's something you need to know." Jacques whispered, watching as she nervously folded her arms together. "I'm not gonna beat around the bush so... Stiles' dad told me that they found two Hale members alive."

"Dad..." She mumbled and slowly shook her head. Had one of them been Derek, he wouldn't have looked this sad.

"It's Peter and a girl named Laura. But Peter's in a coma because of the wounds. You and Peter were friends right?" He asked but she only scoffed and looked to the side. "Or not."

Vanessa gazed back at her dad and sighed heavily. And then she told him everything she knew about Peter, what they've talked about and how he had changed slowly and showing his true colors. She tried to explain their relationship which still was confusing even to her, and she lastly told him how Peter was Derek's uncle. Jacques was confused to say at least.

"I need to visit him and when I get back, there's something I need to tell you." She said and he nodded in response. "Just... Don't tell Cora yet, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." Jacques nodded, though he didn't understand why he shouldn't tell her.

Vanessa walked over to her room, changed to something more appropriet but comfortable and then headed off toward the local hospital. Before she reached it, she passed a café and remembered that Melissa had an early shift. So she took a quick stop to buy her aunt some lunch. Once she entered the hospital doors, she searched for Melissa by the reception.

"Ah, my favorite niece." Melissa grinned as she approached her.

"You only have one, smartass." Vanessa snorted and handed her the bag. Melissa's eyes lit up and her mouth dropped.

"Oh, thank you, I'm so hungry." She thanked her happily and took the bag carefully. "Smells delicious. But I assume you didn't just come here to bring me food."

"No, uh... I need to know what room Peter Hale is in." She asked and scratched her upper arm.

Melissa sighed quietly before she led Vanessa to the room. Vanessa thanked her and then slowly entered the room, her fingers intertwined against her stomach. Fortunately, there was a chair that she could place by his bed and sit on. There was also another patient in the room who seemed to be unconscious as well.

It hadn't really occured to her that the fire was a tragic incident for her too considering she had been so busy comforting and being happy for Cora. But looking down at Peter now, realizing that she was there that night and she knew them all... It was painful. For the first time in a very long time, she allowed herself to cry.

"Gods..." Vanessa sighed and rested her elbow against the arm of the chair and rubbed her forehead with her fingers. "I hate you so much. I hate you for making me care about you, for making me actually like you just to become this asshole who then ends up in a coma. Because even if you're a horrible person, you don't deserve this. I hate you for leaving me like this. I don't even know if Derek made it out alive... If he didn't then you're all I have left and that sucks. I should've stopped Kate before this happened. If that moron had just listened to me we wouldn't be here right now. Just... Please don't leave me. I don't care if you stay in a coma for a decade, just don't die on me, alright? We'll get our revenge on the hunters eventually."

She didn't realize how much she was crying, especially in the beginning. Her cheeks felt sticky and her vision had gotten really blurry by the time she finished. Her hand had in the middle of it all intertwined with his and even if she did hate him, she also had a spot in her heart for him.

Vanessa quickly wiped her cheeks and stood up from her seat, taking a last look at him. Sighing, she left the hospital and hurried back home where her dad and Cora were playing monopoly on the living room floor. She grabbed a lollipop from the kitchen and slouched down on the couch and put the TV on to dampen their voices down. Literally no one can play monopoly without screaming at each other.

"You're probably cheating." Cora muttered and unwillingly handed him the money she owed him.

"Or maybe I'm just really good at the game." Jacques suggested and made a funny face.

"Nah, you're right, Cora." Vanessa shook her head. "Must be cheating."

"Hey!" Jacques chuckled and reached for a pillow only to throw it at her. "You of all knows that I'm good at this game."

"Dude. I'm the only person you play this with." She deadpanned and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Did you just call me dude?"

"Yeah, dude." She laughed and sat up. "And we still need to talk."

"Ooh, about what?" Cora asked and looked up at her with curious eyes.

"Adult stuff, kid." Vanessa apologetically pushed her lips to the side and watched Cora pout a little.

"I hate adult stuff. It's not my fault I'm still a kid."

"I know, I know." Vanessa sighed sympathetically before she grabbed her headphones and iPod to give to Cora. "Don't eavesdrop, okay? I know it's hard for you not to do that when you're curious."

"Ugh, I can't wait to be an adult." Cora muttered and put the headphones on, starting a random song on the list. Jacques and Vanessa went out to the backyard to talk, figuring it'd be hard for her to listen to them.

"Okay, look... I know you're gonna disagree with me at first but just hear me out." Vanessa began, sliding her hands down her backpockets. "I want to send Cora to my aunt Carmen in south America." Jacques crossed his arms together in disapproval and frowned questiongly at her. "She needs a fresh start, dad. Her entire family was murdered, including her mom. She's been through a lot and her life just started. Sure, we could take care of her but this town is so dangerous. Even if Kate left, some hunters will probably try to kill her when she grows older. Cora deserves better than this and I think letting aunt Carmen adopt her is a good thing. They're a great family who live far away from here and we can visit often. I don't want Cora to grow up here. This place is toxic and she has a chance at a new start."

"What about her sister? Or Peter? Don't you think they'd want to know if another family member made it out alive?" He asked.

"Honestly, I think Laura would understand me. I think she'd want Cora to start over somewhere else as well. I just want what's best for her. And that's not this town, or a destroyed home or a burnt uncle in a coma. We need to do this for her. Please."

Jacques contemplated it for a long time while she gave him her most pleading look. He knew she was right. Had this been Scott, he'd want to send him away to a new start as well. The only problem was that he wasn't her father or even biological family, which made this a lot harder. But he agreed with her. He really did.

That's why he called Carmen Gomez the next day, explaining as thoroughly as he could and trying to convince her to adopt Cora. Besides, Carmen loved kids and after hearing the tragic story, she decided to give it a shot. But of course she had to meet the girl first, so the three planned a little trip down to south America. Jacques and Vanessa wanted to wait with telling Cora because if she hated the Gomez family, then it was no use forcing her to live with them. Vanessa could never do that to her, no matter how dangerous this town was.

Carmen's family consisted of her, her husband, their son and their cat. The son, James, was about the same age as Cora so the two got along easily. Well, as easy as a girl who'd just lost her family could. Vanessa hadn't actually met them in a long time so to her, James should've been a lot smaller. The boy was almost as big as her now.

"I really like your house." Cora smiled and glanced around herself. "Smells like vanilla. And... Almost burnt chicken."

"Oh, god!" Carmen exclaimed and rushed over to the kitchen. She had completely forgotten that she was cooking food. Vanessa widened her eyes and gently pulled Cora aside, crouching down so they were on the same level.

"Honey, you can't do that."

"Do what?" Cora asked, genuinely not knowing what she talked about.

"They don't know about us, about what we are. Your senses are better than theirs and you have to be careful around people. Okay?" Vanessa explained softly. Cora nodded with a weak smile and swallowed a lump in her throat. The smell of smoke must've been hard for her to inhale. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." She whispered, breathing in deeply to stop her eyes from getting wet. "I'll get used to it."

"I know you will, but you shouldn't have to." Vanessa sighed before she placed a soft kiss on Cora's forehead.

"Anyway, I like these people. That's what you're hoping for, right?" Cora decided, making Vanessa push her eyebrows together.

"Wha... What?"

"Because I can't stay with you guys, right? That's why you brought me here. So they can adopt me. Right?" Cora had figured it out. It felt as if though someone had slammed a hammer into Vanessa's chest.

"That obvious, huh? Look–"

"Why don't you guys want me? I love being with you." Cora questioned.

"No, no, _pollito_ , it's not about that! We love you so much and you're like my little sister now, but you deserve a fresh start. Beacon Hills is a dangerous and toxic town with horrible people in it and this town isn't. This town is good, healthy and human and full of possibilities. You deserve to be a normal kid, a kid who goes to school without looking over your shoulder every five minute, a kid who can have friends and relationships and teenage problems. A kid who'll grow up without any fears or any threats. You deserve that. You deserve a new beginning with a wholesome family who can truly take care of you. If Jacques and I adopted you... People would find out, the hunters would keep coming. But if you just disappear out of Beacon Hills then they'll assume you're dead and you'll be safe. Don't you want that?"

"I do, but... What about you? Won't we get to see each other again?" Cora asked carefully, afraid of the answer.

"Of course not. I'll visit as often as I can, at least once a month and I'll call and text you every day. I will always be here for you and there's nothing you can't ask me. I just want what's best for you, but this is completely your decision. If you want to go home with us again, then you can. It's your choice."

"You have to promise..." Cora started, emphasizing the word and pointing a finger at her. "That you'll visit often. Both of you. You're all I have left."

"Not for long, sweetie. These people will become your family as well, if you let them. Okay?" Vanessa gulped. The words stung so badly and she wished she could've done more to prevent the fire. Had she not spent so much time being bitter at Derek, she might've been able to stop it. Derek... That stung even worse.

"Then okay."

"It'll be a bit messy and it might take long, but it'll be worth it." She assured her, caressing her cheek while she got up to her feet.

And it did take long. Vanessa lost track of time after some days since all she did was spend it with Cora, going on daily adventures in this new city. Thankfully, Cora seemed to enjoy it a lot and every day she grew closer with the Gomez family. She loved their little kitten and James understood why it took her some time to bond with him. Maybe weeks later, the papers were all finished and Cora was officially a Gomez now. That's when the sad part of it all came.

Saying goodbye wasn't easy, even if they all knew it wasn't a goodbye forever. Vanessa placed hundreds of kisses all over Cora's face, talked to her about being cautious when it came to her werewolf side and then assured her that she could always, always call if she needed it.

This is what Cora needed. A new start, a new family, a new life, presumed dead by those who hunted her. Vanessa vowed to keep Cora safe no matter what.


	13. derek

Vanessa had the day all planned out. Go to the local café, drink some hot coco, talk to the cashier whom she had befriended because of how often she went there and then buy some groceries home. Then someone popped that plan-bubble apart.

As she opened the door to leave, a figure stood right in front of her. Vanessa slowly looked up and her heart stopped for a second, out of relief and happiness and anger all at the same time. Derek exhaled before he smiled, happy and so good to see her again. At first they hugged, tighter than any human could've endured. Then she hit him in the chest — repeatedly.

"Gods, where the hell have you been?!" She yelled and her throat thickened as her eyes got wetter. "It's been weeks! You can't just show up here and smile as if nothing's–"

Before she could finish, Derek pulled her in for another hug. She buried her face against his chest and let it all out, shivering when he stroked the back of her head. She had completely given up on the idea that Derek was alive, but here he was, hugging and comforting her as if she was the one who needed it. Vanessa's hands were shaking while she sobbed and Derek kissed her head for a long moment as a tear ran down his cheek.

"Sorry. I've been so afraid and you haven't been out either, so it was hard not to see you at school. I'm fine, Nessa."

"You're not–" She stopped herself, ended the hug carefully and wiped her cheeks before continuing. "You're not fine. I... I heard about the fire, about your family... There's no way you're fine."

"You're right." He sighed and cupped her face in his hands. He barely recognized her and she barely recognized him. Her eyes had lost their usually happy glow, there were dark bags underneath them, her face seemed as if she'd aged at least a year and her hair was messy, not styled like it mostly was — and even when it was unfixed, it was never this uncared for. He looked worn out, buffier for some reason and his cocky, charming aura had been replaced with this weary mood. "I'm not fine. I never will be. I just lost my family..."

"I heard Peter and Laura were alive as well." She whispered carefully.

"Peter's in a coma, but he's alive. Laura and I have been discussing what to do from now on and honestly, neither of us know. We have no money, no plan... God, I hate to ask you this but–"

"Come on." She nodded toward behind her, seizing his hand and leading him inside the house. He didn't need to finish his sentence because she could read him so well now; that pained expression he had every time he asked for a favor. Besides, he had no house to live in or a family to take care of him. At least Laura was older and more prepared for adulthood.

"Nessa... I just need to say something and please don't roll your eyes at me." He murmured as they sat down on the couch side by side. She slowly bent one leg to sit on and rested her arm against the top of the couch.

"I don't think I'm in the mood to roll my eyes exactly, but you never know with me." She shrugged and managed a weak smile. He laughed. A genuine, soft laugh. Derek couldn't remember the last time he laughed.

"That's true." He grinned and nervously played with his fingers. "Look, I... I don't think I've ever said this, but I do love you." He started, making her flinch out of surprise. "I don't even think I need to explain how much you mean to me because you do and I'm so grateful that you've always been there for me. After the fire, I went looking for you but I couldn't find you and I feared the worst. I believed that Kate had gotten to you or something and it... I just couldn't imagine what to do without you. I mean, I need you in my life. Being without you for this long has been so empty and hard and you're the only person I can confide in. I love you so much and you need to know that."

Vanessa didn't know if it was on purpose or not, but Derek had brought his hand to his ear by the end and that way brought back so many memories to her mind. She didn't know what to make out of his speech either. She loved him too, of course, but on what level was he talking about? After everything that had happened, she couldn't dare to put her heart out, not even for him. Not anymore.

As if reading her mind, Derek swallowed a lump in his lump before moving his hand to her cheek instead. Caressing her cheek with his thumb, he inched closer to her and flickered with his eyes between her lips and eyes. He had a hard time reading her expression considering it seemed as if she was fighting with herself. Maybe a heart-vs-head thing. One second, she looked almost afraid and uncertain and the next her eyes, lips and chest relaxed as if she really wanted to give in. He didn't know which expression to go on.

"I'm so glad you're alive." She finally whispered with a crooked smile. Then, when he was just some inches away, she softly pressed her lips against his and closed her eyes.

Since this moment was something she had anticipated for over a year now, her first thought was simply wow. She couldn't put it to words. It just felt so good, especially after all this time yearning for this kiss. His hand kept caressing her cheek and jaw and soon his fingers were tangled in her hair. This kiss was like food after a long hike; it made her full in every possible and enjoyable way.

Derek had guessed it'd feel great to kiss her, but he never believed it'd feel this natural, as if their lips were literally made for each other. Maybe it was all those deep feelings, that unspoken thing between them that had always been there, that made the kiss so mindblowing to him. He didn't want it to end in a long time.

Vanessa wanted to say something, but she realized she didn't have to because all of her thoughts were poured into this kiss. Instead she decided to carefully stand on her knees and move one leg to the other side of him, that way straddling him, and their hands exchanged positions. His found their way to her hips and she wrapped her arms around his neck, slowly ending the kiss.

"So... Can I seek harbor here?" He asked with the silliest smile and she rolled her eyes with a dumb smirk.

"Really? That's what's on your mind right now?"

"No, not really." He shook his head with and smirk before kissing her again, more passionately this time. At first she giggled, which radiated over to him, but then his hands smoothly landed on her waist but inside her shirt instead.

Vanessa lightly raised her eyebrows when he stood up, still holding her legs wrapped around his waist, and smiled when he brought them to her room instead. This brought some images of her and Peter to her mind and she fought back an eye roll at herself. How, how, how in the world could I almost have done it with Peter of all people? she thought. Unlike that time, her dad didn't come home early to interrupt.

/

With her head resting against his chest, Vanessa traced circles against Derek's chest and sighed in content. He shuddered a little, making her smile, and caressed her arm with his fingertips.

"We should probably get out of bed." She murmured and tucked some hair behind her ear.

"Yeah." He pouted and carefully sat up, which forced her to sit up as well with a hand holding the cover over her chest.

"So do you wanna go out or stay in?" She asked while she reached for her shirt and put it on, then the rest of her clothings.

"To be honest, I still don't like going out. I mean, I'm sort of afraid..." He confessed as he too dressed his clothes on. She looked at him with sad eyes and seized his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together for a short moment.

"You don't have to. Kate's gone and the rest of the hunters aren't about killing innocent kids." She reassured him before standing up and moving toward the door.

"How do you know she's gone?" He asked with a weak frown. She had her hand on the doorhandle when he asked that and closed her eyes briefly.

"I searched for her after the fire but I couldn't find her. Then I asked Chris Argent and he said she moved, probably fleeing from the cops before they could suspect her." She lied, half turning around to show him a small, convincing smile.

"You actually... Talked, civilized, with Chris Argent?" He chuckled and followed her footsteps to the living room.

"He saved me. After his family kidnapped me, but still." She cocked her head to the side with sarcastic eyes and then shrugged. "I think he has a soft spot or me now, which is great. Could be useful in the future."

"Just be careful, please."

"I always am, Hale." She nodded once to get her point through. The way his face relaxed assured her that he knew and believed her words.

"So what did you have in mind, by the way?" He asked, referring to when she asked what they could do.

"You hungry?" She asked with a sly smirk. He frowned with his lips as he thought about it and eventually nodded in response.

Vanessa simply wrote that she was eating out with a friend on a note for her dad to read when he came home from work. She grabbed one of her jackets before exiting the house and locking it. Derek slid his hands down his pockets and walked closely beside her, casually bumping into her every now and then. They decided to take a stroll around town first, talking about anything that came to their minds.

"... I've actually never been to the movies." Derek admitted through a laugh, making her part her lips in surprise and turn her head to look at him.

"It's one of the best things in the world to do. Seriously." She shook her head in disbelief and folded her arms together to warm herself up.

"And I'm sure we can catch a movie sometime. That's how you say it, right?" He asked with a scrunched face of insecurity.

"Yeah, that's how you say it." She giggled and nodded. "Though it's a weird and dumb saying. Technically, you can't catch a movie because a movie isn't a physical object that can run. And I mean, going to the cinema in a hurry and running to make it in time makes the movie experience so much worse. You wanna get their a little early, buy snacks and then watch trailers before the movie starts. So saying 'catching a movie' is so stupid and totally the wrong way to experience a movie theater. I wanna find whoever started that saying and have a talk with him bec..."

She faded her voice out when she noticed two things. One: he had let her ramble and rant on. Usually people would just zone her out or point out how much she was talking. Two: when she looked at him with her lips pursed, he was grinning widely.

"What?" He asked, still smiling.

"What me? What you? What are you smiling about?" She frowned and bit on her bottom lip.

"It's just... You're doing it again." He shrugged.

"That's vague. Doing what?"

"That thing where you get excited and passionate about something so you really, really engage in the conversation and talk about it a lot." He remarked, remembering the time she said that she unfortunately doesn't care about much except for when it's something she likes. Since she misinterpreted the comment, she opened her mouth to reply but lowered her head and stared at her feet instead. "Nessa, I meant that in the good way. I love hearing you ramble about things you care for. And you're totally right."

With her thumbnail nervously placed between her teeth, she looked up at him and felt such a relief when he had a soft and warm smile plastered on his face. Instead of saying anything, she weakly bumped her body against his as a thank you for not thinking I'm annoying. Taking her by surprise, he put an arm around her shoulder and continued walking as if that was how they walked with each other.

"Alright, now I'm hungry and it's getting late. We should eat before dad goes nuts." She proclaimed and they changed direction to the closest fast food place.

Vanessa and Derek ordered what they wanted by the register and sat down in a booth by the corner. She took her jacket off and pulled her hair up in a ponytail, already knowing it'd bother her eating with it loose. She also knew Derek hated it when he saw hair in his or anyone else's food.

"So..." He started, clearing his throat awkwardly. "What happened before..."

"... Was kinda good." She finished for him, scratching her upper arm. "I mean, I imaged it to be totally awkward and weird."

"Yeah, but it wasn't, which was great. Right?" He shrugged and frowned with his lips.

"Right." She agreed while nodding. Then she laughed and buried her face against her palms. "Gods, what? I liked it. And I'm glad it was with you."

"Yeah, likewise." He smiled and nudged her foot with his under the table. She raised her eyebrows funnily at him and suppressed another laughter.

"This place is so cosy." She commented as she crossed her arms together against the table and looked out the window. The nightsky had reached that beautiful moment where it wasn't pitch black yet but had different shades of blue all over it. The few neon lights from the place felt vintage somehow and the entire scene and place simply filled her with warmth.

"It really is. Maybe it's because it's late." He eveloped it further, which she could agree on. It just felt so good and special to eat out this late when the place wasn't packed with people and their chattering. Instead they could hear the chill music playing.

"Here's your food, kiddos." The cashier approached them with their orders. "At this time, we offer ourselves to give you the food instead of calling for you. Hope it tastes well." She smiled before leaving them again.

"Can't believe you're so basic." Derek shook his head and feigned disapproval. "Pepperoni pizza? Really?"

"Okay, you know what? I didn't judge you when you said your favorite transformer was Bumblebee when he's the one everyone loves so how about you don't judge my pizza choice." She chuckled and and took a bite of her first slice.

"It's not my fault Hasbro decided to make Bee the most loveable one." He defended himself and raised his hands up to shoulder length.

"Uh, Ironhide is definitely the coolest one. Or Arcee." She raised her finger in the air to get her point through and gave him a judgemental look. He always had a hard time to counter her passionate expressions. "What are you gonna say next, that your favorite superhero is Superman?"

"No." He leaned forward and then pursed his lips.

"Let me guess... Batman?" She smirked and tilted her head to the side.

"He's really cool, okay. And besides, isn't loving Wonder Woman basic?"

"No, because it's not the same thing. Superman is this universal ideal image of a great person and he applies to both genders. Both girls and boys love him and buy his merchendise. But gods forbid that any man loves Diana of Themyscira because then that man is either a 'fag'," she air-quoted the word because she hated it and it wasn't true. "Or he just loves her boobs. So unfortunately, a lot of people only take Wonder Woman as a boob icon. So no, it's not basic to love her."

Derek was speechless. He just stared at her in awe, smiled and then started eating his food. Vanessa enjoyed the music and occasionally swayed to the melody, her eyes set on the glowing moon outside. Once they finished eating, the two sat there for a while more, talking and discussing. At one point, Derek had said something so funny that made them both laugh out loud — really loud. It was good though because neither of them had laughed like that in a very long time. Vanessa's stomach actually hurt as they became quiet and the cashier, who had heard the joke, snorted and excused herself for hearing it. Not that any of the two blamed her considering they were the only ones in there.

When they got back home, Jacques did something unexpected. The second Derek entered the house and Jacques lay his eyes on him, he rushed forward and embraced the boy in a tight hug. Vanessa raised her eyebrows but then smiled softly, seeing her dad soften himself up to Derek.

"Thank god, you're alive! We've been so worried." Jacques exhaled and closed his eyes for a brief moment. "You okay? I mean, obviously you're not okay, okay, but–"

"I'm fine." Derek chuckled and smiled gratefully at him. "I've passed all the phases of grieving, so..."

"Hey." Vanessa sighed and nudged his arm with hers. "It's okay to still be sad, Hale. You don't have to pretend with us."

And it was true. Even if Derek had been through all the phases of grieving, even if he had accepted the incident and his part in it, he was still hurting and thinking about his family made him so sad. Nonetheless, he knew she meant it because he always felt at home here as well. Jacques might not have liked him at first but that was because his whole family were outsiders; he would never judge Derek for being emotional. What kind of person would he be if he did?

"I love you guys." Derek said casually, sliding his hands down his pockets. "Seriously."

"So I'm assuming you're my new child?" Jacques smirked as he already assumed Derek would be staying with them. Then he noticed their expressions; Vanessa grimaced at the idea of Derek being her brother and Derek honestly looked so repelled. "Oh, no. Are you two... What, a thing now?"

"What?" Vanessa laughed nervously and made a very exaggarated face of denial. "No, no, we're not– Uh..."

"I don't even want to know. I'll go prepare the guest room." Jacques raised his hands and then turned to fix the room up for Derek.

"So we're not?" Derek asked once her dad was gone. She folded her arms together uncertainly and looked down at the floor.

"I don't know. Are we?" She shrugged and pursed her lips.

"I don't... Know. Do you want us to be?"

"Maybe. I guess. Do you?"

"Yeah, sure."

Sure? I guess? Maybe? Gods, both of us need to improve our ways of communicating, Vanessa thought. They really did.


	14. incidents & leaving

The next two years really did fly by. Derek had adapted himself to their small household and school was coming to an end, finally. Vanessa had managed to make him more engaged to school and helped him with their homework a lot.

Almost every day after school, they would stop by the woods and hang out there like old times, then go home to eat and hang out and lastly at night they'd go to that diner and just exist there. Zaina and Derek were getting along really well too, so their duo had become a trio instead, which neither of them complained about. Zaina was the comic relief they needed, a lot. However, sometimes she was the one speaking the truth and bringing seriousness to the group. For example, one night they were at the diner and Zaina chose to speak up.

"So, I know you two are doing it and all, but have you ever discussed what you are? Like, for real discussed it? And that vague conversation a year and a half ago you told me about doesn't count because it was barely a conversation."

Vanessa nearly choked on her milkshake and Derek only stared at the girl. Zaina shrugged carelessly and took a sip from her drink. Vanessa and Derek shared a long look before they put their focus back on their food, avoiding talking about it. Zaina rolled her eyes and let out a groan so loud the chefs could probably heard it. That's basically how it went every time Zaina tried making them discuss it.

Even if he never showed it, Vanessa knew the fire still haunted him. Laura found her own place to stay at, but she didn't go out that often and when she did, it was to visit Derek and check up on him. Vanessa never told them about Cora. Sometimes her heart ached for her to do it because it was their damn sister but she just couldn't bring herself to do it. Cora had a good life in South America and she and Vanessa still talked every day. Having three close people growing up at the same time was tough; she couldn't believe how big Scott and Stiles had gotten and Cora sounded older and more mature for each phone call.

Peter was still in a coma and Derek occasionally visited him, which made it so much harder for Vanessa to sneak out and do so herself. Every meeting tired her out considering she was ranting, rambling and getting angry in the end but he couldn't respond. He couldn't even hear her, so all her words were in vain. Some deep part of her missed him a lot but she knew that part was dumb and should be drowned.

"Can you believe school is ending soon? We're practically adults." Vanessa remarked as she and Derek sat over the cliff, gazing down at Beacon Hills. It never really mattered what time it was because the sight managed to look amazing every time.

"Yeah, I can't believe that." Derek chuckled without moving a muscle.

With a sad frown, she turned her head to examine him. He had changed a lot, bot physically and mentally. He wasn't nearly as chirpy and happy as he used to be before the fire. His cocky expression has faltered and he rarely dared to smile. He was more severe, more preserved and cautious. She didn't blame him though. She was all of that too now.

"What are you planning to do after we graduate?" She asked and turned her focus back to the town below them.

"Not sure." He shrugged and glanced at her.

"I think... You should leave this town to become a professional basketball player. Remember? You wanted to be one." She suggested carefully.

"I was like, fourteen when wanted to be a basketball player." He said as if that would mean something.

"So? I've wanted to be an architect since I was ten. And basketball is the only sport you've felt passionate about. Why not pursue that?" She asked with a sigh, forcing him to look at her by placing her fingers on his jaws and turning his head to the side softly.

"I don't know, okay. I don't know what I wanna do after we graduate. I don't know where to go or how to live my life." He snapped, though not angrily, just with a weary voice and expression.

"At least tell me you'll leave this town, Hale. After everything you've been through here, please tell me you're planning on leaving?" She pressed with a frown on her face. The idea of him staying after everything was too surreal.

"Like I said, I don't know."

"What if Kate comes back? What if the hunters decide to go on a killing spree in a year? Are you seriously telling me you'd risk staying here?" She wanted so bad to tell him about Cora, about how she was happy, safe and content in another city. But like always, her lips remained sealed.

Derek didn't add anything to that. He merely turned his gaze back to the view and kept his shoulders tensed. Vanessa stared at him for a while before she gave up, standing on her feet and beginning to leave. The leaves rustled due to him hastily getting up as well.

"Wait, don't tell me you're angry?" He called and sighed. She was more disappointed than angry and maybe a little sad considering her lips almost quivered.

"Maybe I am because you have so much potential, Derek. You're smart and good and staying here won't make your life easier. Your family's gone, but you know who's still here? The Argents! Kate may have disappeared but her family is still here. I don't get why you're so set on staying. There's nothing left for you here and we're still young. The second we're done with school, I'm leaving." She ranted as she crossed her arms together.

"You mean you'd leave me? And Scott?" He asked in a hurtful tone, causing her shoulders to slump down a little.

"Come with me. I can always visit Scott. Please, come with me." She suggested with a light frown on her face.

"You don't get it, Nessa. I did lose my entire family and what kind of son would I be if I left? The Hales have lived here for decades and because of me..." He began, emphasizing the latter with a heavy tone of guilt and shame. "They're gone. I killed my family because I didn't listen to you and trusted Kate. I may not have lit the fire, but I led Kate there and it's my fault they're gone. It's my fault my uncle is in a coma, his face burnt. If I leave, I'm abandoning the family that I killed. I could never do that. I deserve to live here in misery, remembering what I've done."

Tears formed in his eyes now, his hands weakly shaking. Vanessa dropped her arms beside her body. She had never seen him so vulnerable. Sure, she knew he blamed himself but he had never vocally told her that before so all the guilty feelings came smashing down in sync with his words.

"That's the difference between us, Hale. I wouldn't see it as abandoning. I wouldn't see it as running from your problems. Your family, Talia, wouldn't want you to spend the rest of your life sulking in your ruined home. They'd want you to move on and be happy. That doesn't equal forgetting them. But hey, if you wanna stay here, sad and lonely... Fine. I'm not dependant on you and we're not a thing anyway, right?" She shrugged at the end before giving him a last look and leaving the woods.

She felt bad for simply walking away, but she had nothing more to say. Of course she didn't expect him to be chirpy and ready to leave his family heritage at the moment, but there was nothing keeping him here. This town was a literal dead end and staying made no sense to her.

A few days passed where Vanessa spent most of her time at home and Derek somewhere in the forest. Jacques asked but didn't receive that much of an answer. Vanessa was too stubborn and Derek was too careless, which was a bad combination. He figured that she'd come around eventually and talk to him while she sat with her arms folded and grumbled to herself, refusing to be the first to give in. The one thing they did share at the moment? How much they missed each other already.

On the next full moon, Vanessa planned on staying in her room the entire night. Now that Jacques knew, it was so much easier to excuse why she couldn't babysit the boys or why she had mood swings. However, she got too worried to just sit on. Derek wasn't there so she had no clue of what he was doing. What if he was hurting someone or himself? No other thoughts were necessary for her to actually get up and sneak out one last time. No doubt would her dad forbid her from leaving.

"Sweetie?" Jacques voice filled her ears. Frozen, she slowly turned arount to see him standing by the door with his arms crossed. "When you told me you were a werewolf, I mapped out all your escape routes since you always sneaked out. Where are you going?"

"I..." She started, dropping her arms beside her body. "I just need to find Derek. He doesn't have the control I have and I'd sleep better knowing he's safe."

"When you do find him, bring him home. We can make some hot cocoa and watch a movie." He surprised her, smiling softly which she returned with gratitude.

"I'll be careful."

Once he nodded, Vanessa turned back around and jogged toward the woods where she guessed he would sulk. Most likely at the remnants of the Hale house. It was eerily silent during full moons, much to people's surprise. There were rarely any wolf howls echoing and the moonlight shone through the trees in slim ways that made her skin crawl. As aesthetically pleasing a full moon-ed forest could be, it wasn't somewhere she wanted to be.

"If it isn't the elephant in the pack." A voice said coldly, making her turn around and swallow a lump in her throat. "It's been a while, don't you think?"

"Not long enough." She muttered and unconsciously crossed her arms together out of insecurity. "Kaleb, I'm not in the mood–"

"For what? I was just going to thank you for not giving our names to the hunters."

"You mean you know I was kidnapped?!" She exclaimed, taking him by surprise. "You jerk! It's because of you and Dalia that I was tortured and you never once asked if I was okay! You never even tried to find me afterwards and you have the audacity to thank me for not getting your ass killed? Wow. Screw you, Kaleb."

"Now that's rude. Is that how you talk to your alpha?"

Without warning, Kaleb approached her hastily, forcing her to step backwards in whimper until her back met a tree. His bloody red eyes stared at her and his lips were lightly pursed, his fists clenched and his posture hovering. But now, it didn't work anymore. She found herself straightening her back in confidence and defiance.

"You know what? I'm not... Scared of you anymore." She laughed satisfied, pushing him away from her. He even stumbled in shock. "You're an ass who's relying on your status and intimidating demeanor and it's not working anymore. So leave me alone and focus on your pack that for some reason still stand by your side."

Vanessa was on her way to leave when Kaleb snapped completely. It must've been enhanced by the full moon because even if Kaleb was an angry person, he went animalistic. Wrapping his hands around her neck, he banged her head against the tree and then tossed her to the ground.

"You annoying, childlike, pesky pain in the ass. I hate you so much and I should've done this a long time ago."

Before Kaleb could lay a hand on her, Vanessa took advantage of her long legs and kicked him first in the scrotch, then up his jaw and lastly on his stomach, throwing him flying back. She quickly got back on her feet and stared at him with wide eyes, her adrenaline already pumping through her veins.

"What the hell? Don't touch me!" She yelled with a strong voice, although it didn't seem like he even heard it considering he pounced at her again.

The muddy ground failed her, causing her feet to slip and her back to hit the ground again. This time Kaleb pressed his knee against her chest and took a hold of her neck. Her legs squirmed under his heavy body and soon his claws scraped against the skin of her neck. Vanessa wasn't sure what to do. The panic that grew blocked away all her memories of defense training with her dad and she felt weak and vulnerable.

"All you've done is being an inconvenience!" Kaleb growled, his knee pressing harder. Vanessa tried so hard to force his hands away by clawing at them and pushing them away but in vain. No matter how much she made him bleed, that hateful and insane look was still in his eyes. If anything, it aggravated his temper. "With you, I've never been able to make my pack more powerful because all you do is whine and whimper! You're an annoying child who never should've turned in the first place!"

The air was slowly leaving her lungs even when she refused to satisfy him with sounds of despair and pain. Her eyes were painfully wet but she refused to shed any tears for this monster, even if she feared that this was it. She was certain he'd snap her neck any second now and that devastated her. His words on the other hand? They flipped her mood. Instead of feeling sad and half dead, she remembered everything he's done and how she didn't deserve any of this.

"I. Am not. A damn. Child anymore!" Vanessa used every bit of strength left in her system to yell that in his face before she put her claws against his chest, pushing them in until his entire grip of her weakened. At first it was relieving, but then his heartbeat slowly stopped against her claws until his eyes stopped glowing and he fell down on top of her.

With shaking hands, Vanessa pushed him down beside her and swallowed back a choke. For the only time in her life, she prayed that Kaleb would get back up and yell at her. But he didn't. His eyes lost their color and she felt like puking. She sat up, arms hugging herself and legs up against her chest, as she realized what had just happened. To confirm his death even more, when Vanessa felt most drained, a surge of power floated through her until she could feel her eyes warming up. Soon tears rolled down her cheeks and she was full on sobbing, not being able to believe that she had just taken a life.

"Oh my gods..." Vanessa choked out before she began shaking Kaleb's lifeless body, tears streaming down her face faster by the second. "Kaleb, please, please wake up. Please!" She sobbed, having a hard time controlling her hands. "Please..." That came out as a strained whisper. He didn't move and she forgot to breathe for a moment.

"Vanessa? A soft, female voice spoke up from behind her. Twitching, she looked behind her and clenched her hands together. "Oh my god, what happened?"

"I– I didn't mean to." She sniffed and wiped her cheeks, though that only made them bloody. Emma placed a hand against her own mouth and stared at the scene in front of her. To Vanessa's surprised, her concern seemed to be directed to the young one. "I'm so sorry." Before Emma could say anything or attack her, Vanessa got up on her feet and hurried away from there.

"Vanessa, wait!"

Thanks to Kaleb's alpha powers, Vanessa was too far away to hear her. Realization dawned on her as she ran back home. She had actually murdered someone and now the pack was most likely going to kill her — they always thought she was too young to even be a werewolf, why would they think of her as a worthy leader? Regardless, she didn't want to be a leader. She just wanted out of the town already.

Once she bursted through the door, Jacques nearly jumped out of the couch from surprise. He quickly approached her and, when seeing her distressed state, wrapped his arms around her and tried to shush her down and calm her. Then he noticed the blood on her hands and face.

"What the hell happened? Did Derek do this?!" He exclaimed and received a sloppy head shaking from her.

"I did." She murmured and swallowed a lump in her throat, then began telling him what had happened. Some of her sentences were incoherent and her hands were still shaking of fear but Jacques understood what had happened and it pained him. "We have to leave this town, dad. I can't stand it anymore and his pack... They'll come after me. Especially John. He hates me."

The next day, Jacques called his estate agent and made up a story that his agent approved so he and Vanessa could move immediately and have their things delievered later when it was convenient. Vanessa spent that entire day locked up in her room, re-living the murder over and over again, coming up with different scenarios that could've happened that would exclude Kaleb dying. How someone could enjoy killing, she would never understand. This was eating her alive.

Two days later, the house was on sale and Jacques had found a terraced house in a town not too small but not too big either. When Derek approached their old house and knocked on the door, no one was there to open it.

* * *

 **hiya! so she finally leaves beacon hills and now you guys know why! don't forget to check out my tumblr for vanessa content, "princes-jasmine"!**


	15. book two

hey guys! so the origin story of vanessa is over and i've finally posted the first chapter of the second book, basically season one of teen wolf! enjoy! and don't forget to check out my tumblr (princes-jasmine) for more vanessa content!


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